One of the last countries in the world to support coal-fired electricity generation overseas is considering financing new capacity in Bangladesh.
The Japan International Cooperation Agency last week said in an e-mail that it is conducting an environmental and social impact assessment for an expansion to the Matarbari power plant.
The agency already agreed to finance the first 1.2 gigawatt phase of the project, which is scheduled for completion in 2024, but has not decided if it will finance the expansion, which would double the facility’s capacity.
“In spite of difficulties, my government decided to do a survey and research on unit 3 and 4,” Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Naoki Ito told a webinar hosted by the Centre for Policy Dialogue in Bangladesh on Thursday last week, referring to the expansion.
Changing climate policies have led Japan to scrap dozens of plans for new coal plants, he said.
Japan in August last year agreed to support expanding the Matarbari plant, with three additional units planned in a second phase of construction, said a Japanese government official, who asked not to be identified citing policy.
However, Japan has not yet formally committed to providing loans for the second phase, the official said.
Institutions providing financing for coal-fired generation are under increasing pressure from investors to exit the sector amid fears that the facilities will become stranded assets that pose financial risk, as governments seek to decarbonize economies.
The agency’s decision whether to finance the Matarbari expansion would not affect its credit rating as long as it is tied to the Japanese government, Rating And Investment analyst Atsushi Moriya said.
The government agency provides overseas aid in developing countries.
The expansion might prove awkward for Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who has pledged to make Japan carbon neutral by 2050.
With much pomp and circumstance, Cairo is today to inaugurate the long-awaited Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), widely presented as the crowning jewel on authorities’ efforts to overhaul the country’s vital tourism industry. With a panoramic view of the Giza pyramids plateau, the museum houses thousands of artifacts spanning more than 5,000 years of Egyptian antiquity at a whopping cost of more than US$1 billion. More than two decades in the making, the ultra-modern museum anticipates 5 million visitors annually, with never-before-seen relics on display. In the run-up to the grand opening, Egyptian media and official statements have hailed the “historic moment,” describing the
‘CHILD PORNOGRAPHY’: The doll on Shein’s Web site measure about 80cm in height, and it was holding a teddy bear in a photo published by a daily newspaper France’s anti-fraud unit on Saturday said it had reported Asian e-commerce giant Shein (希音) for selling what it described as “sex dolls with a childlike appearance.” The French Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) said in a statement that the “description and categorization” of the items on Shein’s Web site “make it difficult to doubt the child pornography nature of the content.” Shortly after the statement, Shein announced that the dolls in question had been withdrawn from its platform and that it had launched an internal inquiry. On its Web site, Le Parisien daily published a
‘NO WORKABLE SOLUTION’: An official said Pakistan engaged in the spirit of peace, but Kabul continued its ‘unabated support to terrorists opposed to Pakistan’ Pakistan yesterday said that negotiations for a lasting truce with Afghanistan had “failed to bring about a workable solution,” warning that it would take steps to protect its people. Pakistan and Afghanistan have been holding negotiations in Istanbul, Turkey, aimed at securing peace after the South Asian neighbors’ deadliest border clashes in years. The violence, which killed more than 70 people and wounded hundreds, erupted following explosions in Kabul on Oct. 9 that the Taliban authorities blamed on Pakistan. “Regrettably, the Afghan side gave no assurances, kept deviating from the core issue and resorted to blame game, deflection and ruses,” Pakistani Minister of
UNCERTAIN TOLLS: Images on social media showed small protests that escalated, with reports of police shooting live rounds as polling stations were targeted Tanzania yesterday was on lockdown with a communications blackout, a day after elections turned into violent chaos with unconfirmed reports of many dead. Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan had sought to solidify her position and silence criticism within her party in the virtually uncontested polls, with the main challengers either jailed or disqualified. In the run-up, rights groups condemned a “wave of terror” in the east African nation, which has seen a string of high-profile abductions that ramped up in the final days. A heavy security presence on Wednesday failed to deter hundreds protesting in economic hub Dar es Salaam and elsewhere, some
RSS