Tk63.5cr road project threatens Cox's Bazar beach dunes
The tender was invited on 17 June 2025, and National Development Engineers (NDE) was awarded the work. The project is scheduled for completion on 5 October 2027.
A Tk63.5 crore road project along Cox's Bazar beach is destroying sand dunes and sea-lily vegetation despite the entire 1.6km stretch from Sugandha Point to Kalatali Point being designated an Ecologically Critical Area (ECA).
The 28-metre-wide road is being constructed under the Urban Development and Urban Governance Project by Cox's Bazar Municipality, with financing from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica).
The tender was invited on 17 June 2025, and National Development Engineers (NDE) was awarded the work. The project is scheduled for completion on 5 October 2027.
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Construction began in recent days, with workers filling large sections of the beach's dunes to build the road infrastructure. The work is damaging the natural structure of the dunes and destroying sea lily, an important beach plant.
The government declared the roughly 120km coastline from Nazirartek in Cox's Bazar to Teknaf an ECA in 1999. Under the law, construction and development are prohibited on dunes within 300 metres of the beach's tidal zone. The High Court has also directed authorities to remove illegal structures from the dunes.
Environmentalists say dunes are a critical part of the coastal ecosystem and a natural defence against waves, storms and erosion.
Ironically, some of the dunes now being damaged were artificially created in 2022 with US funding to protect the beach from erosion and conserve its environment and biodiversity.
A private development organisation built sand dunes and planted sea lily as a natural protective barrier.
Mohammad Shaheen Mia, NDE project manager, said the road was being constructed with funding from Cox's Bazar Municipality. He said the municipality would be able to clarify whether environmental clearance had been obtained.
Municipality Assistant Engineer Rumel Barua said the road was being built to beautify the beach, protect erosion-prone areas and facilitate tourists.
However, Khondkar Mahmud Pasha, deputy director of the Department of Environment's Cox's Bazar office, said no environmental clearance had been obtained for the road. He said an official had been assigned to inspect the site and submit a report, after which necessary action would be taken.
Youth Environment Society Chairman Advocate Mujibul Haque said countries including the Netherlands, the US and New Zealand spend heavily on creating and preserving dunes as nature-based protection against climate change, sea-level rise and coastal erosion.
"Destroying dunes to implement a development project is environmentally suicidal," he said, calling for construction to be halted immediately and the project's environmental impact to be reassessed.
