Despite Ban, $1.5M of Cambodian Sand Turns Up in India
A huge haul of river sand dredged in Cambodia has been quarantined at the southern Indian port city of Cochin since its arrival in April despite a ban on sand exports instituted by Prime Minister Hun Sen in 2009. India’s Deccan Chronicle newspaper reported on Tuesday that a shipment of river sand imported from Cambodia by Indian company Raja Steel Private Ltd. has been sitting in the docks of Cochin for the past six months, having been repeatedly denied customs clearance. “More than 32,000 tonnes of sand imported from Cambodia remains dumped at the Cochin Port for more than six months,” the report says, citing fears that the piles of sand could “cause ecological impacts as they could contain microorganisms or other biological materials.” A Times of India report published in June says the consignment of sand is worth about $1.5 million. ... Minister of Water Resources and Meteorology Lim Kean Hor confirmed Thursday that the export ban is still in place. “The ban has not yet lifted,” Mr. Kean Hor said. “There are few places where small-scale dredging of sand is allowed because it would affect construction, for example, but dredging for export is totally prohibited.” ... A collection of videos posted to YouTube in March and April this year under the name Zhuang Yong shows river sand being dredged onto a ship that is identified in a video title as the Hongxin Blue Sea ship. A caption on one video identifies the location of the dredging operation as Koh Kong’s Sre Ambel district. Contacted on Wednesday on a telephone number linked to the YouTube account, Mr. Yong confirmed that he worked for a sand dredging firm in Koh Kong province. However, Mr. Yong declined to identify the name of the company he worked for and referred questions to LYP Group. LYP is owned by prominent businessman and CPP Senator Ly Yong Phat. Despite the sand export ban, LYP was issued a license in September 2010 to dredge sand from Koh Kong’s Tatai River. On July 16, 2011, the Water Resources Ministry ordered LYP to stop dredging on the Tatai so that it could conduct a review of its operations. The Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy later that month issued a 12-month extension on LYP’s dredging license, rendering it valid until September 2012. Mr. Kean Hor claimed that all sand dredging operations in Koh Kong province had ceased after the expiration of LYP’s license. ...
Alex Willemyns and Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/despite-ban-1-5m-of-cambodian-sand-turns-up-in-india-46753/
