Why Maldives Wants to Take Silt from Bangladesh

Bangladesh's foreign ministry recently said that the Indian archipelagic state Maldives has expressed interest in taking the silt from Bangladesh. 

The country's foreign minister, Abdullah Shahid, called Bangladesh's foreign minister, AK Abdul Momen, in early November to discuss a range of bilateral issues, and he has since expressed interest in the issue, the foreign ministry said.

During the talks, the two foreign ministers also agreed on direct shipping between the two countries.

Rear Admiral M Nazmul Hasan, Bangladesh's High Commissioner to the Maldives, told BBC Bangla that there would be a direct meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries soon and that their discussions would include issues such as taking silt from Bangladesh and direct shipping.

Talking to officials at various levels of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Water Resources in Dhaka, it was learned that Bangladesh was the first to offer sand and silt to the Maldives at least four years ago.

In Bangladesh at that time, especially when the work of Payra seaport was started, it came up for discussion as it was decided to carry out massive dredging in the Ramnabad channel of Patuakhali for that port.

Dredging Disposal means that keeping or removing the sand and silt that is removed by dredging makes dredging costly.

(River dredging is on the rise in Bangladesh)

High Commissioner Rear Admiral M Nazmul Hasan also said that Bangladesh had made such a proposal to Maldives a few years back but later due to various reasons not much progress was made on it.

"After I took over last year, I started working on it as per the advice of the minister, but due to Corona, not much progress has been made. But the prospects are very bright. I hope it will be a great thing for Bangladesh if some problems are solved," Mr Hassan said BBC Bangla.

He said they were now working on a possible visit by the foreign ministers of the two countries and hoped a visit would be held soon.

"These issues will be discussed during the visit. We hope that work will be done at the technical level and more specific proposals will be made. And then we will be able to say how much export will actually be possible or in what process."

But why would the Maldives take the silt?

Officials in Dhaka say the Maldives' economy has been booming for over a decade, and in 2012 the country became a middle-income country.

And after becoming a middle-income country, massive infrastructure construction has started there.

But the country has to import silt and sand from neighboring India as construction work or soil filling cannot be done with sand extracted from the sea in the Maldives.

The Maldives reached an agreement with India on this issue at one stage as talks with Bangladesh did not move forward.

India also has a policy on silt and sand and has reserved a quota for exports to the Maldives.

Rear Admiral M Nazmul Hasan says the Maldives is an island-based country and many islands are being extensively developed there. And to make an island, you have to put a huge amount of sediment on the surface.

"The Maldives also uses silt for agriculture. So they need a lot of sand to build infrastructure as well as silt for agriculture and island development. They are interested in these as the quality of sand in some areas of Bangladesh, including Sylhet, has improved."

(Bangladesh High Commissioner to Maldives Rear Admiral M Nazmul Hasan)

What are the possibilities ahead

Abdul Matin, a professor in BUET's Department of Water Resources Engineering, told BBC Bangla that transportation problems were a major obstacle to sand and silt exports to the Maldives.

He said that as there is no direct shipping agreement between the two countries, the cost of transporting ships from Bangladesh to Maldives via Singapore has increased a lot while the cost of transporting ships directly from India or Sri Lanka to Maldives is much lower.

Mr Matin says the Maldives will have to do extensive land development work on the islands due to rising sea levels.

"But it will not be easy to get the sand and gravel from Bangladesh. Because it is expensive and involves a lot of shipping, which policymakers have a lot to do. If the problems can be solved, the chances are very bright."

However, Rear Admiral M Nazmul Hasan, Bangladesh's High Commissioner to the Maldives, said he hoped the two countries' foreign ministers would agree on direct shipping this time around.

*The writer works in BBC Bangla

  Source: BBC Bangla