The Bangalore Mirror had earlier reported the state’s law minister, TB Jayachandra, as saying that his government would go ahead and finalise the name of the bidder supplying the sand from Malaysia.
The report said although Jayachandra had read a Malaysian media report on Wan Junaidi’s stand, he insisted that the bidder “had participated in the bidding process because he has the legal permission to export sand” from Malaysia.
It also cited Rajender Kumar Kataria, secretary of Karnataka’s commerce and industries department, in charge of mines as well as micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME), as being hopeful of issuing the necessary local licence to the bidder.
“The (Karnataka) government has finalised on a Malaysia-based bidder,” he was quoted as saying.
“The Supreme Court has upheld the ban on sand mining in rivers (in India).
“The government will amend the Karnataka Mines and Minerals Act 1994 to include the import of sand from foreign countries,” he added.
Kataria was quoted as saying that the import would be crucial as the state did not have enough sand.
“We took a decision to import sand from Southeast Asian countries after secretaries from all the states had a meeting with energy minister Piyush Goyal in Delhi,” he said.
On Aug 9, Wan Junaidi was reported by The Sun as saying that Putrajaya had yet to grant approval for any company in the country to export sand to India.
“Any country can say they are going to import sand from Malaysia. As far as I know, we are not going to export sand to India,” he said.
“Despite the sand export ban (since 1997) being lifted in 2015, the government has yet to approve any exports,” he added.
Wan Junaidi was commenting on an earlier assertion by Jayachandra, reported by the Deccan Herald on Aug 7, that a Malaysian company has been shortlisted and the exported sand would be available in Bengaluru, the capital city of Karnataka, at 175 rupees (RM11.75) for a 50kg bag.
“The company has emerged as the most competitive bidder, having quoted an all-inclusive price of 3,450 rupees (RM230) per tonne,” he was quoted as saying while declining to name the company.
“This works out to about Rs 35,000 (RM2,330) per truckload of sand, which is way cheaper than the current price in the state,” he added.
He was also quoted as stressing that it would help conserve Karnataka’s natural resources.
FMT had reported on Aug 9 concerns about the negative impact the deal would have on Malaysia’s environment and natural resources.
Anthony Tan Kee Huat, executive director of the Centre for Environment, Technology and Development Malaysia (Cetdem), had also asked if it would entail river dredging, while questioning the credibility of the Malaysian companies said to be in negotiations with not only Karnataka, but also with the Tamil Nadu state government, to export sand.
Environmentalist questions impact of Malaysia-India sand deals