The power plant project planned for the Karnaphuli Char bird sanctuary has been cancelled.

The proposed electricity generation project from waste at Bakalia Char on the Karnaphuli River has been cancelled following protests over concerns about potential river pollution and harm to biodiversity. 

Chattogram City Corporation (CCC) had requested approximately 14 hectares of land from the Ministry of Land for this project. However, the ministry informed the Chittagong district administration that the proposal was not approved.

In response, the district administration sent a letter to the Upazila Executive Officer (UNO) of Boalkhali on Thursday, instructing them to take necessary actions due to the project's rejection. Mohammad Rajib Hossain, deputy collector of Revenue at the Chattogram district administration.  "There were objections from the River Commission, environmentalists, and local residents regarding the project proposal. The Ministry of Land has communicated its decision to reject the project through a letter."

The letter outlined concerns that establishing a waste treatment plant on the char of the Karnaphuli River could lead to water pollution and significant disruptions to biodiversity and the ecological balance of the area. The Karnaphuli River, located near the estuary of the Bay of Bengal, has Chattogram Port along its banks and the Shah Amanat Bridge, also known as the Third Karnaphuli Bridge, upstream.

Upstream of the Shah Amanat Bridge is the Kalurghat area, where the first Karnaphuli Bridge was constructed nearly a century ago. Since then, sandbanks have begun to emerge between the Shah Amanat Bridge and the Kalurghat Bridge in the river's center.

Bakalia Char, which emerged about 1.5 kilometers upstream of the Shah Amanat Bridge, covers nearly 42 hectares. In 2023, CCC applied to the land ministry to lease government land for a long-term waste treatment plant. A private development and research organization, Effective Creation on Human Opinion (ECHO), conducted a study in Bakalia Char in 2022, identifying 155 plant species, including 64 tree species, 20 herbs, 57 shrubs, 12 climbers, and 2 parasitic plants, of which 113 were medicinal.

In 2023, CCC submitted five proposals from foreign companies to the Ministry of Local Government to generate electricity from the city’s waste. Among these, the Chinese company Sevya-Czech-Orchard JV proposed a waste-to-energy project in Bakalia Char. Following this, the city corporation sought approximately 14 hectares of land from the land ministry for the project.

When news of the project became public in March, a coalition of six organizations, under the banner "People’s Protest Platform to Save Karnaphuli," mobilized to demand its cancellation, organizing various activities to support their cause.

Aliur Rahman, the general secretary of the Chittagong River and Canal Protection Movement and a leader of the protests, expressed gratitude to the government for scrapping the project. "If the city corporation wishes to proceed with this project, it should be done elsewhere without harming the environment, including rivers, canals, hills, and trees," he stated.

Associate Professor Mohammad Omar Faruq Russell from the Department of Botany at Chittagong University, who led the biodiversity research in Bakalia Char, welcomed the decision to reject the project. "This is a positive decision to protect the river from pollution. If the project had gone ahead, the Karnaphuli River would have faced severe pollution from waste transportation, which would also have affected the nearby Halda River. Moreover, it would have endangered the 155 plant species found in the char, along with many birds and animals that depend on it."

He emphasized the importance of considering environmental and ecological factors wherever a waste treatment project is established in the future.