Matthew Fakei is a manager of one of the blocks factories along the Stockton River, Jamaica Road. He and his team was surrounded by several bricks while the Ministry of Public Works, commissioner of Caldwell and the Deputy Police Commander for patrol explained to him on the outcome of illicit sand mining.

Fakei stood surprise as if he had not hear the outcome of illegal sand mining, but on a tour Acting Public Works Minister Jackson Paye said illicit mining damage bridges and houses that are along the coastal areas. The team toured Stockton Bridge, Caldwell Bridge and the King Zolu Buma Bridge commonly called the New Bridge among others. On the awareness, Minister Paye said it is the community involvement to take ownership of the infrastructures built by the government and to stop people from undermining sand in their communities.?

?Our tour derived from an order from the Minister proper who is not in the country who told me to create awareness because the ministry continues to receive complaint on the illicit sand mining of beaches and rivers and we have met with the commissioners who we will use as ambassador against the illegal mining, he added.?

Minister Paye said there are areas designated by the Government for sand mining and urged sand miners to make used of the areas and seized from causing disaster and shorter life span of bridges and roads that are constructed for easy access of pedestrians and commuters. He further stated that it was the last awareness done by the Ministry of Public Works on grounds that if anyone is caught in illegal mining will be prosecuted by the Law enforcement agencies.

?The message is that people should be mindful of illegal sand mining and it is degrading the productivity of the road, bridges, rivers, and beaches.? Although the acting Minister could not give penalties that will be attached, it promised that they will be prosecuted for degrading the constructions.

He disclosed that the Ministry would engage the media through spots and announcement as they engage the community. There were several canoes saw with sand seated and sailing on the rivers. Dressed in yellow and white strip shirt a man identified as a purchaser of the sand embarking from the vehicle marked ICRC 111 with a driver seated was shocked when he saw officers of Caldwell escorting the team to tour the water. He was seen shivering as questions were posted to him to show why the ICRC (International committee of Red Cross) engaged in purchasing sand illegally.

However, there was no reasons given as he risked been arrested by officers on grounds that it was just a warning and an awareness aimed at educating sand miners to halt illicit mining in the country. Some of the miners had to jump in the water feared been arrested while others left their equipment along the waterway.

According to the Minister of Lands, Mines and Energy, Patrick Sendolo, beach sand mining is hardly or not practice throughout the world, as it poses a great risk to the environment. Minister Sendolo stated further that sand taken off beaches can caused severe erosion and flooding, problems that Liberians have noticed over the past few years.

 ?The key challenge at the outset of this initiative was the fact that the livelihood of numerous young Liberians depended on mining sand on the beaches, which necessitated a responsible and considerate course that struck a balance between eliminating beach sand mining and ensuring, as much as possible, that Liberians who depended on beach sand mining for their livelihood are not displaced,? Minister Sendolo stated.

In his disclosures: ?The beaches along the Robertsfield Highway have already been closed, and almost all the supplies of sand from that area are river sand. In continuation of its ban on beach and sand mining, the Ministry also revealed that it has confiscated a 15-ton truckload of blocks in the 11th Street and Watanga communities in Monrovia. The arrest of the truck followed the ban placed on beach sand mining which the ministry said certain unscrupulous individuals created block factories along the beaches.

Recently, the leadership of the Booker Washington Institute Alumni Association called for collaborative efforts by the relevant government agencies, security authorities, community leaders and the media to halt the rampant and illegal river sand mining that is threatening the viability of the bridge linking Vai town and Waterside and the one near the Jamaica Road-Somalia Drive intersection.

In a press release issued recently, the leadership of the alumni association described the practice as worrisome and disgusting, noting that the association has on many occasions drawn the attention of Maritime authorities, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Ministry of Public Works to this disturbing practice, but that the unwholesome and criminal acts have continued unchecked.

Ref: frontpageafricaonline.com