It is reported that government of Bangladesh has planned formation of a joint venture firm consisted of the state owned Petrobangla and the newly established Bangladesh Coal Power Generation Company Ltd to develop local coal mines and generate electricity at the mine mouth. The meeting of the formation of the JV was held on this Tuesday.

Bangladesh owns a huge coal reserve of around 3 billion tons in five mines, but coal extraction is only limited to the underground coal mine at Barapukuria with a daily production quantities as small as around 3,000 tons only.

The development of the remaining four coal mines have been put on hold over the past decade under the protection of the national coal policy.

An official said that the government of Bangladesh has encouraged joint venture or direct foreign investments for coal exploration.