The Financial Express 14 Mar 14;
The country is reportedly missing an opportunity to earn a substantial amount of money as the ministry of commerce is yet to make a decision on export of sand by private parties. One company, according to a report published in the FE last Saturday, sought to export 1.5 million tonnes of sand to Singapore. The Maldives and some other countries expressed their interest to buy sand from Bangladesh. According to the prospective exporters, the country, as the FE report indicated, could earn between Tk 70.0 billion and Tk 120.0 billion by exporting sand. The likely whopping amount of foreign currency earnings from exports of sand by Bangladesh should not overwhelm the authorities concerned. Any imprudent decision, taken without adequate research and consultations with environmentalists and hydrologists, might cost the country heavily. Several fast-track projects in the country are reportedly being hindered because of domestic scarcity of sand. The Gumti river over which lies the long bridge at Daudkandi is fast drying up allegedly due to unabated sand quarrying there. This has to be investigated into.
River erosion in the country has reportedly taken a menacing turn due to unscientific dredging that has, in most cases, changed even the course of rivers. Around one million people have been rendered homeless due to river erosion in the country over the last three decades as the mighty Brahmaputra and Jamuna rivers continue to widen due to decrease in their depth for heavy rush of sediments from the upstream and poor erosion management in the downstream. According to the Centre for Environmental and Geographic Information Services (CEGIS), an independent analysis wing of the ministry of water resources, nearly 800 square kilometres of valuable floodplains have been lost due to erosion along the Brahmaputra and the Jamuna's total length of 240 km in Bangladesh.
As hydrologists often say dredging results in lowering of the alluvial water table which, in turn, directly affects groundwater storage capacity. Excessive dredging allows for saline intrusion into the groundwater. The lowered water table implies a rise in costs of water supplies, thus restricting access to only those who can afford it. It results in habitat loss including destruction and fragmentation of fragile, endangered ecosystems and decrease in the variety of species. Sand mining also causes increased shoreline erosion rates, especially when mined unscientifically. Furthermore, it poses a threat to critical infrastructural facilities such as bridges, roads, railway tracks etc. Besides, sand mining has been known to cause loss of livelihoods in several instances. Other macro-economic impacts have also been observed such as changes in land use patterns and increased public health costs.
River sand and stone quarry can impact the ecology of a stream from the base of the food chain starting with aquatic plants through to the communities and fish in two rivers of the country. Quarrying of the river channel has been found to be destroying river reserve habitats for a broad range of species as well as indirectly impairing the functioning of the aquatic ecosystem in the affected areas. Aside from the direct loss of habitat, increased stream turbidity as a result of the quarrying activity may temporarily reduce light penetration within the river. In that event, this will impact rates of photosynthesis and therefore primary production rates. It also prevents migration of fish to the flood plain and also movement to natural feeding and breeding grounds. The Sand Quarry and Soil Management-2010 Act has to be implemented fully before any decision on sand export is taken. The law has provided for scientific quarrying of sand in Bangladesh.
