Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2017-05-02

Off-shore Sand Mining & Pumping and Supplying of Sand to the Construction Industry

- Due to the shortage of river sand used for the construction industry the price of sand has increased steeply and as an alternative for sand, measures are being taken by the Sri Lanka Land Reclamation and Development Corporation to implement a project to purify the sea sand from off-shore for marketing and the Corporation has obtained a mining license. Under this project it has been planned in the year 2017 to mine and pump 4 cu.meters of sand about 10 to 16 km in the area of the off-shore from Muturajawela. Accordingly, the proposal made by Hon. Patali Champika Ranawaka, the Minister of Megapolis and Western Development, to adopt the procurement procedure to select a suitable institution to mine sea sand, was approved by the Cabinet.