"Honestly, Zanzibar has run out of sand," the minister told a press conference, appealing to the media to help spread the message to the public about the new challenge in the construction industry. "We don't have sand for building purposes as since it has decreased drastically in the past ten years. We must find an alternative to non-renewable materials like sand," he said.

 

Flanked by senior officials in his ministry - Principal Secretary Dr Juma Ali and Director of Forestry and Non-renewable Resources Yussuf Kombo, the minister said that studies carried out in 2010, 2013, 2015 and last year have proved beyond doubt that the islands have no sand.

 

He attributed the problem to increasing government and private projects and the indiscriminate excavation of sand and lack of enforcement of environmental conservation laws.

 

The minister said after a prolonged survey, the government has decided to impose restrictions on the use of sand in a move to conserve the remaining sand covering 14.7 hectares.

 

"From now on the government will control its projects requiring sand and all the people engaged in the business will have to register and get licences. Lorries or transporting sand must be registered and sand digging will be restricted to only day time," the minister said.

 

He said Zanzibar will import sand from the Mainland or abroad or switching to hydraform building system. Zanzibar requires more than 1.8 million tonnes of sand annually for its booming building industry. Minister Hamad said plans were underway to import sand following the ban.

Source : allafrica.com