Sand shortage in Mangalore affects construction activity

MANGALORE: Construction activities in this coastal city have taken a beating thanks to the shortage in supply of sand.
Contractors and real estate developers say the local construction industry is in doldrums due to the rising cost of sand and illegal transportation of naturally found sediment to neighbouring Kerala. Within a span of two months, the cost of sand has more than doubled.A truckload which used to cost Rs 2,000 is now available at Rs 4,500.
Much of the mined sand either goes to Bangalore, where it fetches more profit, or Kerala in an illegal way. A sand contractor said that in Bangalore, sand is sold at Rs 80 per cubic feet while it fetches only Rs 14 here to miners who have permits. "This means a truckload of 300 cubic feet of sand fetches Rs 24,000 in Bangalore as against Rs 4,200-Rs 4,500 here. Naturally, all sand is flowing towards the capital. Earlier, I used to get four truckloads of sand per day. Now I get only one," he said.
A real estate developer, who has as many as seven projects up and running, termed the situation "almost doom time". "Though there is a directive that only 200 truckloads of sand should be transported to Bangalore per day, nearly 5,000 truckloads go there from Mangalore and Udupi districts. This will definitely sink us, apart from raising the cost of construction," he said.
Despite a ban on inter-state transportation of sand, it is being illegally shipped to Kerala. The neighbouring state has a huge demand for sand due to the many ongoing projects of national importance. This is testing the district administration's resolve to curb the practice.
Officials had in 2013-2014 booked 753 cases of illegal mining/transporting and collected more than Rs 70 lakh as penalty.
The administration has to act based on the new sand policy that regulates extraction of sand from riverbeds. Under the policy, officials have identified 20 blocks in coastal regulation zone (CRZ) areas and 24 in non-CRZ area. Public works department monitors sand mining in non-CRZ areas and is responsible for the auction of sand in blocks there. The challenge before the district administration is to ensure stability of price and availability of sand in the local market.