‘Controversy’ over permission and price to lift sand from Maheshkhali Channel
Photo Collected
6 crore 35 lakh cubic feet of sand will be lifted for the construction of a port road at Matarbari in Maheshkhali, Cox’s Bazar. The administration has given permission for this. But environmentalists claim that if sand is taken from Maheshkhali channel in this way, the environment will be at risk. Apart from this, there has been a controversy about the fixed price of sand.
On April 7, three environmental organizations submitted a memorandum to the District Commissioner seeking the cancellation of sand mining approval. The leaders of the organization claim that if the sand is taken from the Maheshkhali channel, which is a danger to the environment, the runway of 1,700 feet extended in the channel of Cox’s Bazar airport will be at risk. River erosion will increase, watercourses will shrink, biodiversity will be destroyed.
বিজ্ঞাপন
The price of sand per cubic foot in the market is 16 rupees. But the same sand is being sold to the road construction contractors for only 2 taka 37 paisa. Cox’s Bazar District Balumhal Management Committee has allowed the sale of sand at about seven times lower rates. This approval was given on April 2. Chairman of the committee Deputy Commissioner Md. Abdul Mannan.
Under the Matarbari Deep Sea Port Development Project of Cox’s Bazar, the 27.20 km long ‘Matarbari Port Access Road’ is being constructed by the Directorate of Roads and Public Paths (SOAZ). An agreement was signed with the contracting company ‘Tokyo-Max International Limited (MIL) JV’ on March 25 last year for this project funded by Bangladesh Government and JICA.
বিজ্ঞাপন
In the first phase, the cost of construction of 16 and a half kilometers of road has been estimated at 3 thousand 726 crores, that is, about 225 crores 54 lakhs per kilometer. There were already questions about construction costs. This time, it has been alleged that the concerned contractor did not have environmental clearance and environmental impact assessment (EIA) certificate before taking permission to extract sand from Maheshkhali channel.
According to the information of the district administration, permission has been given to ‘Tokyo-Max International Limited (MIL) JV’ to lift 6 crore 34 lakh 59 thousand 182 cubic feet of sand for the filling of this road. The price of sand has been fixed at 2 taka 37 paisa per cubic foot.
However, Soaz sources say that the construction of 16 and a half kilometer road will require a total of about 20 million cubic feet of sand. Out of this, more than 6 crore cubic feet of sand will be extracted from Hamidardiya near Sonadia in Maheshkhali and Thakurtala sea channel in Gorakghata. There are plans to lift the rest of the sand from various rivers, chars and sea channels in the district.
Environmentalists say about 330 million cubic feet of sand or soil will be required to build the entire 27 km road. Excavation of this huge amount of sand from coasts, rivers and channels can cause serious damage to the environment.
Director of the Chittagong office of the Department of Environment. Zamir Uddin told Prothom Alo that there is no opportunity to extract sand from Maheshkhali’s sea channel without environmental clearance. Although the EIA has been done for the Matarbari port development project, there is no mention of how much sand will be extracted from there. If you want to extract sand by dredging the Maheshkhali channel or any canal in the district, the permission of the Department of Environment and EIA is mandatory. No one has applied so far. Environment department will take legal action if sand is mined illegally.
When asked about permission to extract 60 million cubic feet of sand to contractors without environmental clearance, Deputy Commissioner and District Balumhal Management Committee President Md. A. Mannan told Prothom Alo that according to the decision of the Ministry of Lands, sand mining has been allowed subject to conditions. Environment Department has already done EIA for Matarbari port project.
No fresh EIA or clearance will be required for sand extraction from Maheshkhali channel. There will be a system of monitoring whether sand is being lifted from any place other than the specified place and more than the specified amount of sand is being lifted or not.
According to district administration sources, in the meeting of Balumhal Management Committee on March 3, the engineers of Souz, Water Development Board and Public Works Department proposed the price of sand at 16.70, 16.79 and 16.80 per cubic foot respectively. But later it was reduced to 6.94 rupees.
Later, the contractor will extract the sand at his own cost, with this logic the actual price is reduced to 2 taka 37 paisa. According to this, the total price for 6 crore 34 lakh cubic feet of sand has been fixed at around 15 crore 6 lakh taka. Along with this, additional money has to be submitted to the government for VAT and income tax.
Deputy Commissioner said that the contractor will get one year time for sand extraction. A. Mannan said that the decision of the Ministry of Land has set the price of sand at Tk 6.94 per cubic foot. That amount of sand is stored in two places. The contractor will do the dredging and sand extraction at his own cost, so Tk 2.37 has been fixed excluding that cost. After submitting the government dues-VAT the work order for sand mining will be given to the contractor.
But Dibyendu Pal, a sand trader and contractor in the city, said that a cubic foot of sand taken from rivers and canals is sold at Tk 8 to Tk 16.
Project Director and Souz Additional Chief Engineer. Despite several attempts to contact Akbar Hossain Patwari, his statement was not available.
However, in a letter sent on January 11, he mentioned that there is no separate allocation of money for sand or soil filling in the revised DPP of the project. According to the contract, the contractor will bear all the expenses including sand collection.
Iftiyar Alam, the officer in charge of MIL Cox’s Bazar, said that the written permission for sand extraction has not been received. Sand will be lifted as per rules.
Earlier on August 13, 2025, the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) gave permission to lift the same amount of sand. At that time, the price of sand was only 44 paise per cubic foot (excluding VAT).
Allegations of corruption were raised in this incident and the ACC started an investigation. According to the letter given by the ACC to the Deputy Commissioner, the state has lost hundreds of crores of rupees by selling sand at a nominal price.
Later, the Deputy Commissioner objected to the matter and sought instructions from the Ministry of Lands. The order was canceled in the meeting of the National Balumhal Management Committee.
On April 7, three organizations, Youth Environment Society (YES), Cox’s Bazar Civil Society and Nadi Paribrajak Dal, have submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner and demanded cancellation of the permission to extract sand. It is said in the memorandum that if 6 crore 34 lakh 59 thousand 182 cubic feet of sand is extracted from the Maheshkhali channel, the runway of Cox’s Bazar airport built at a cost of thousands of rupees will be at risk of collapse. The runway of 1,700 feet was extended from the airport towards the sea channel. There is no one to catch if the contractor excavates 50 million cubic feet of sand with permission to extract 6 crore cubic feet of sand.
Mujibul Haque, chairman of Youth Environment Society (YES), said, “If billions of cubic feet of sand and soil are extracted from the endangered Sonadia and Gorakhata grasslands and sea channel of Maheshkhali without environmental clearance, the course of the river will be narrowed, along with disruption of navigation, the coast may be eroded by storm surges, paraforests may be destroyed, and the natural balance may be lost. We want the permission to extract sand to be cancelled.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Environmental Law Society (BELA) has sent legal notices to 11 people including 2 secretaries in connection with allowing huge amount of sand to be extracted from Maheshkhali channel and coast of Cox’s Bazar without environmental impact assessment (EIA) and environmental clearance.
Bela’s lawyer Zakia Sultana said that the notice was sent by post on Wednesday afternoon. In the notice, it has been demanded to stop all anti-river activities including sand extraction from the Maheshkhali channel and cancel the related permission.
According to the notice, the action taken in this regard should be reported to the lawyer within seven days. Otherwise legal action will be taken against those concerned. S. Hasanul Banna, lawyer of the Supreme Court and Bela’s representative, confirmed the sending of the notice.
Those to whom the notice has been sent are Secretary of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Secretary of Ministry of Lands, Director General of Directorate of Environment, Director General of Water Development Board, Chairman of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA), Divisional Commissioner of Chittagong, Deputy Commissioner and Superintendent of Police of Cox’s Bazar, Director of Cox’s Bazar Office of Directorate of Environment, Project Manager of Matarbari Port Access Road Construction Project (Southern Section) and contracting firm. Managing Director of Tokyo-MIL (JV).
It is mentioned in the notice, under the Matarbari Port Development Project (Soaz part) in Cox’s Bazar’s Maheshkhali Upazila, the contractor company Tokyo-MIL (JV) has been given permission to extract 6 crore 34 lakh 59 thousand 182 cubic feet of sand from the Maheshkhali channel and Hamidardia and Thakurtala mouza of the coast. On April 2, the District Balumhal Management Committee gave this approval subject to certain conditions.
According to Bela, such sand mining will increase river erosion, disrupt water flow and disrupt the natural balance, ignoring local public opinion and environmental impact assessment. In addition to the destruction of biodiversity, the coastal area will be degraded and the environment will be at serious risk.
Source: Prothom Alo Bangla
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