Bangladesh coal plant runs without air
A major coal-fired power plant in coastal Bangladesh has operated without regular air-quality testing, with a study linking it to declining air and water
The Payra 1320 MW Thermal Power Plant in coastal Bangladesh has been operating without regular air-quality testing, allegedly causing suffering among nearby residents. A recent study found a significant decline in air and water quality around the coal-fired facility.
Meanwhile, the government recently exempted the power plant authority from conducting air-quality tests. Officials say they believe such plants do not generate significant air pollution. In addition, the plant’s chimney is shorter than the height approved in the initial Environmental Impact Assessment.
Operating without testing
Under Bangladesh’s Environment Conservation Rules of 1997, industries like power plants must have ambient air and stack emissions tested annually for pollutants before environmental clearances are renewed. A review of documents from 2021 to 2025 shows the Department of Environment’s Barishal Divisional Office never carried out a stack emission test for the Payra plant.
For ambient air quality, only suspended particulate matter was checked with any regularity. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides were tested just once, in 2021. That year’s results showed particulate matter at 310 micrograms per cubic meter, well above the 200-μg/m³ standard. A second test recorded 188.12 μg/m³.
Md Golam Kibria, a senior chemist at the Barishal office, told Mongabay the office cannot do the work. "We have a mandate for air, sound and liquid quality tests." Kibria says.
However, Mohammad Abdul Motalib, deputy director for air quality at the DoE, has a different view. He says the department monitors plants through online systems and engages third-party agencies when reports are doubted. "We did not conduct any test for Payra, but we have seen that the air is within the standard," Motalib stated. He pointed to a 2022 rule placing emissions reporting responsibility on the operator.
On the ambient air question, Motalib bluntly said, "When we are testing emissions, we don’t need to check ambient air quality." Muhammad Mujahidul Islam, director of the Barishal office, disagrees. "We need to test ambient air because there are other activities rather than emissions, like coal transportation and handling," he says.
Shorter chimneys and late clearance
The DoE approved Payra’s Environmental Impact Assessment in 2015 with 57 conditions. Condition 56 required a 275-meter chimney before operation could begin. Schedule 11 of the 1997 rules sets 275 m as the minimum stack height for dispersing sulfuric acid emissions from coal plants of 500 MW capacity or above.
The plant’s first unit began trial runs in January 2020, entering commercial operation in May. The second unit began trial generation in August. The environmental clearance certificate was not issued until October 2020, meaning both units were running months before approval.
An inspection in March 2020 found both units’ chimneys stood at 220 m, 55 m below the approved height. The operating company later submitted a revised EIA recording the chimney height as 220 m. The DoE formed an expert committee to review the appropriate height.
Tanvir Ahmed, a professor at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology and a committee member, told Mongabay, "The stack height of 275 m was not mandatory. The height never guarantees better quality."
DoE director Masud Iqbal Md Shameem, who sat on the clearance committee, defended the revision. He said modern policies restrict using excessive stack heights as a substitute for filtration systems. The decision was based on an expert committee meeting.
Exemption from testing
On May 27, 2025, an "urgent and confidential" order signed by then-additional director general of DoE, Sohrab Ali, exempted several categories of industry, including power plants, from submitting ambient air quality monitoring results. The order stated the decision was taken because the Air Pollution (Control) Rules, 2022, prescribe fugitive emission standards for only five sectors: cement, steel, spinning mills, brick kilns and stone crushing.
Therefore, heavy industries such as power plants are receiving exemptions from ambient air quality testing. Bangladesh runs two separate emission regimes depending on when a plant came into operation.
