Despite the government’s vow to be more transparent with regulations and the issuing of sand-dredging licences, the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) has granted nearly 70 new such licences without holding public auctions or requiring companies to disclose environmental impact assessments (EIA) results to the public, according to data from the ministry.

As part of the reforms following a sand-dredging clampdown in March of last year, when the MME announced that it would rein in the sector, numerous sand-dredging licences have continued to be issued.

While the most transparent public auction was held last June to issue