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The development works of the Barapukuria coal and Madhyapara hard rock mirtes. the cen'itrv's first 'inde-grotind mines are being oadly affected due to frequent power failure, ,i1-- lice nl prop<-i telrcommu-

oi officials working on the sites official, sources said.

The mine developers are now freezing underground water table to sink four shafts to explore coal and rock and to allow movement of labour. This requires an uninterrupted power supply for smooth operation of the heavy equipment.

BuKfrequent power tripping, is hampering this operation. officials said.

"Once we froze water in a borehole. Bui it melted later due lo sudden electricity failure." saiil a mine expert ol I'rtro bangla which is developing the mines.

He said this was adding huge cost to the execution of the projects.

Petrobangla experts say valuable machines and other

equipment would be taken to the mines by drilling through the Ice.

CMC. a Chinese consortium, was developing the Taka 1.000 crore coal mine project at Barapukuria while NAM/NAM. a North Korean enterprise, was developing the Taka 700 crore hard rock mine project at Madhyapara. 13 kilometers away from the former. These two mines are located in the south of Dinajpur. officials pointed out.

Petrobangla officials alleged that some 400 foreign workers were developing the mines in an Insecured. There is no sufficient police force at the mine area-We urged the Ministry of Home Affairs several times to set up police camps but no measure lias been taken so far. said another official adding incidents of mugging has increased in the mine areas.

"The mines also need bonded-warehouse' facilities to quicken the customs procedures." Ilie official noted. He alleged that the customs authori-

ties were charging 40 to 50 per cent duties and VAT lor the imported machinery whereas It charged only 2.5 per cent duty on imports of the same kind of machinery by another private mine developer.

The officials felt that a customs station could be set up at Parbatipur or Phulbari to clear imported equipment. The clearance is now being done in Chittagong or Dinajpur.

The mines are expected to go into initial operation by 1999 One million tons of coal would be extracted annually from Barapukuria Out of it% 300 million; tons reserve. Some 64 million tons of coal could be extracted using the available technology.

Madhyapara mine has a vast reserve of rocks of which only 100 million tons at the rate of 1.7 million tons each year would be lifted, sources added.

Meanwhile, the Implementation. Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) of the Planning Ministry has ex-

pressed concern about the weak coordination among the concerned ministries, informed sources said. IMED. in a meeting Wednesday gave directives to the Bangladesh Railway. Roads and Highways. Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) to take necessary steps to develop infrastructures and utilities in the mine areas.

The proposed Moheshpur-Barapukuria and Madhyapara-Mithapukur roads should be constructed immediately to run the heavy trailers to carry equipments and machinery from Mongla and Chittagong ports, felt the officials.

They said they have to keep an intensive liaison with the foreign experts to properly monitor the activities through facsimiles. "But due to absence of proper telecom facilities our activities are affected. a senior official oi Petrobangla said.

However, he pointed out that the government was considering allowing the mines to develop private sector telecom network.