The Bangladesh Institute of Planners (BIP) has expressed deep concern and strong protest over the construction of a coastal road in Cox's Bazar that it says is damaging beach dunes and the coastal environment, and has demanded an immediate halt to the ongoing work.
In a press release issued Sunday, BIP said the road, being built from Sugandha Point to Hotel Saimon under the Cox's Bazar Municipality's Urban Development and Governance Project with JICA funding, is destroying sand dunes that serve as a natural shield against waves, storms, tidal surges and coastal erosion.
The dunes, coastal vegetation and natural sand layers are not merely aesthetic features of the beach but critical habitats for coastal biodiversity, the organisation said, warning that filling, flattening or removing them for road construction could weaken Cox's Bazar's long-term coastal protection and climate resilience, in addition to causing environmental and biodiversity losses.
BIP said it was particularly concerned that a project intended to protect erosion-prone areas and improve tourist facilities was, in its implementation, damaging the very natural coastal defences it should safeguard, raising questions about the project's planning rationale.
It said clarity was needed on whether alternative sites and designs avoiding the sensitive dune area had been properly evaluated, given that other route options existed.
The institute also raised serious questions over whether environmental clearance had been obtained from the Department of Environment for the project, noting that any development activity in an Ecologically Critical Area (ECA) must strictly follow environmental laws, regulations and approval procedures. Construction in such a sensitive zone without the necessary environmental approvals and assessments could conflict with legal and environmental regulations, it said.
BIP said Cox's Bazar's development should not be viewed through isolated infrastructure projects but must integrate transport, tourism, environmental conservation, disaster risk management and climate resilience, stressing that coastal risks are rising due to climate change, making it essential to preserve the dunes and coastal vegetation as natural protection systems.
Building infrastructure by destroying these natural safeguards in the name of development is inconsistent with sustainable development, it added.
Citing these concerns, BIP demanded the ongoing construction be suspended immediately pending an independent and integrated reassessment of the project's environmental, climate, disaster-risk and planning impacts.
It also called on the relevant authorities to consider the project's environmental and other necessary approvals, explore alternative sites and designs that keep the dunes and coastal environment intact, and sit for discussions with BIP and all other stakeholders.
If the reassessment finds the project harmful to the environment and coastal ecology, it should be scrapped in favour of a sustainable, environment-friendly alternative, BIP said, strongly condemning what it called an ongoing pattern of road infrastructure construction damaging the environment in different parts of the country.
The Bangladesh Institute of Planners maintained that the dunes and coastal environment of Cox's Bazar constitute the area's natural protection system, and that planned, environment-friendly and climate-resilient development must be ensured while preserving them.