Joint Drive Demolishes Four-Storey Resort Built for Tk 6 Crore at Inani, Cox’s Bazar, as Marine Drive Eviction Begins

A four-storey resort building built at a cost of about Tk 6 crore has been demolished at Inani beach in Ukhiya upazila, Cox’s Bazar. The building was torn down on Monday (26 October), the first day of a joint drive to evict unauthorised hotels and resorts beside the Marine Drive road.

The drive was carried out at noon at the Inani beach area, about 26 kilometres from Cox’s Bazar town. Led by the Cox’s Bazar Development Authority (CoxDA), it included members of the district administration, police, SRB, Fire Service, Department of Environment and Ansar.

According to local sources, the four-storey resort stood between the Royal Tulip hotel, east of the Navy jetty at Inani on the Cox’s Bazar-Teknaf Marine Drive, and the Bay Watch hotel to its north.

An excavator was brought in front of the building at around 11am on Monday and workers gathered there. As news spread, residents of the surrounding area crowded to the spot. At noon, 10 to 12 shops below and on both sides of the building were demolished; the glass of the four-storey building was then broken and work began on removing the main building’s pillars.

CoxDA Deputy Director (Administration) Sanjida Begum said the owner had been served four notices to demolish the illegally built structure himself, but no step was taken to remove it after the notices. That was why the joint eviction drive was carried out.

The building’s owner, Shahidul Haque, said he began construction in 2014 with permission from the Union Parishad. Several shops had recently been prepared on the ground floor, a restaurant on the second floor and several rooms for tourists on the third and fourth floors, and the building was planned to open within a few days. He claimed he had replied to all four notices and had the necessary documents for the construction, but that they were not taken into account.

Behind the drive lies a fire on 17 October. That morning, a fire at the three-storey TupTup resort at Patuartek beach on Marine Drive killed 10 tourists. After that incident, the construction of hotels, resorts and other structures beside Marine Drive without CoxDA approval came under renewed discussion, and the decision was taken to start a drive to evict unauthorised structures.

CoxDA Chairman Engineer Muhammad Jasim Uddin said there are about 200 resorts, cottages and restaurants on both sides of the 80-kilometre Marine Drive, most of them made of wood and bamboo and none of them approved. He also said that although about 1,700 designs have been approved across the district since CoxDA was established in 2016, about 2,500 structures have been built on both sides of Marine Drive despite construction there being prohibited, including more than 200 hotels, resorts and cottages, and that apart from a few star-standard establishments most have no valid approval. He said no unauthorised structure would be allowed to remain on Marine Drive.

Cox’s Bazar Deputy Commissioner Md A. Mannan said construction of resorts, cottages and other structures is prohibited within 500 yards of the beach in the ecologically critical area and within 300 yards of the municipality in town areas, which is why more than a hundred resorts, cottages and restaurants on Marine Drive did not get CoxDA approval. Without CoxDA approval, approvals from the Fire Service, the Department of Environment and other government offices are also not possible, he said. He added that alongside checking documents to ensure tourist safety, the joint drive against unauthorised structures is continuing, and a proposal to launch a one-stop service for businesses whose establishments have some documents, to complete their approval process quickly, is being considered.

Khandkar Mahmud Pasha, deputy director of the Department of Environment in Cox’s Bazar, said 26 resorts and 10 restaurants had recently been served notices for operating without environmental clearance; 14 resorts were fined for not replying to the notices and cases were filed against two resorts. In 1999 the government declared the beach area adjoining Marine Drive an ecologically critical area. Abul Kashem Sikder, president of the Cox’s Bazar Hotel-Guesthouse Owners’ Association, said the association has 187 members and almost all listed hotels and guesthouses have approval, but he does not know whether establishments outside the association have documents.