Dohazari-Coxs Bazar Rail Project Fails to Sustain Massive Afforestation Effort
A reforestation initiative intended to mitigate the environmental impact of the 102-kilometer Dohazari-Cox’s Bazar railway line has largely failed, with hundreds of thousands of saplings unaccounted for. The project, which necessitated the felling of approximately 250,000 trees across three dense forest regions, saw Bangladesh Railways plant 720,000 saplings between 2021 and 2025 in an effort to restore the local ecosystem.
A forest department survey conducted in June 2026, however, revealed that nearly 453,000 of those saplings have vanished. Investigations across seven plots spanning 12 kilometers of the track showed an average survival rate of only 37 percent. Of the surviving vegetation, 75 percent consisted of acacia, a species considered unsuitable for the area’s natural reforestation goals.
Local residents near the Lohagara-Chunati union report that while saplings were initially planted with protective bamboo stakes, regular maintenance ceased after a brief period. Many of the young trees reportedly died from neglect or were consumed by livestock due to a lack of proper fencing or protection. Experts also noted that the planting density significantly violated forest department guidelines, which mandate at least six feet of space between saplings. In many sections, the trees were planted just one to two feet apart, hampering growth.
The degradation of the reforestation project highlights a breakdown in inter-agency cooperation. Under a 2020 memorandum of understanding, Bangladesh Railways assumed responsibility for the maintenance of the trees for ten years. However, the forest department—which had proposed planting native species like silk cotton, flame trees, and Indian devil trees to provide food for local wildlife—claims their recommendations were ignored during the planning phase.
Tapan Kumar De, a former forestry official who served as an environmental consultant for the rail project, noted that while 80 to 90 percent of saplings were initially surviving under forest department supervision up to 2025, the transition of maintenance duties to the railway authority led to the current state of decline. Conversely, A.N.M. Khosru, a consultant for the project, disputed the survey findings, claiming that a joint count conducted by contractors and railway officials in April 2026 indicated that nearly 100 percent of the saplings had survived.
Beyond the survival rates, ecologists emphasize that the project’s design was fundamentally flawed for ecological restoration. Professor Kamal Hossain of the Institute of Forestry and Environmental Science at the University of Chittagong warned that the ongoing soil erosion along the railway embankments and the lack of proper species management make it unlikely that the area will recover as a natural forest. He noted that even under ideal conditions, returning the area to its original ecological state would require at least 30 years of dedicated effort.
