Natural Resources and Environment Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the companies had sent 50,000 tonnes of sand to Tamil Nadu.
“For the state of Karnataka, negotiations are still ongoing,” he added in a statement.
The sand was obtained from dredging the Sungai Pahang and Sungai Kelantan estuaries to keep flooding at bay.
The Times of India had last week reported that the first batch of sand from Malaysia had arrived at a port in the state of Tamil Nadu.
The daily said a private firm based in Pudukottai, India, had imported the 55,000 tonnes of sand.
The cost of the imported Malaysian sand was said to be 60 rupees (RM4) per cubic foot, 50% cheaper than the river sand from Tamil Nadu which costs between 110 and 120 rupees.
The sand is in short supply and a welcome relief for building contractors in India.
The report said contractors were also trying to source river sand from other Southeast Asian countries like Cambodia.
Wan Junaidi said the cabinet had given special approval for sand to be exported overseas.
The special approval was given on a case-by-case basis.
Wan Junaidi said companies which wanted to get the approved permits (APs) for sand export needed to get sand dredging approval for export from their respective state governments before these permits would be issued by the ministry.
He said with the issuance of APs for sand export, the government had been able to carry out sand dredging at shallow rivers without incurring huge costs.
Wan Junaidi said excess sand had built up at river estuaries, making them shallow.
“If dredging is not done, the shallow estuaries will lead to heavy flooding, like those that happened along Sungai Pahang and Sungai Kelantan previously.”
The minister said the sand dredging will be supervised by the Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID).
The APs can be revoked if the permit holders violate any conditions imposed, he added.
He noted that the sand export ban still remained in force, with sand still listed as a prohibited export item in the Customs Department’s list.
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