Bangladesh’s High Court will on Thursday (11 December) hear a writ petition seeking the cancellation of the Mirsarai Economic Zone, now renamed the National Special Economic Zone (NSEZ), amid allegations that the sprawling coastal industrial hub was built by razing thousands of acres of protected forest and mangrove ecosystems in Chattogram.
The petition, filed in September by Supreme Court lawyer Barrister Kazi Akhtar Hossain, cites The Business Standard’s 5 August investigative report, “Factories rise as forest falls: Mirsarai’s troubling trade-off,” as evidence of widespread ecological damage. Hossain confirmed that a bench led by Justice Foyej Ahmed set the hearing date on Sunday following a brief proceeding.
The case has renewed focus on environmental violations in one of Bangladesh’s largest industrial development schemes. In an earlier order on 9 September, a separate High Court bench issued a Rule Nisi asking the government to explain why the NSEZ should not be declared unlawful under the Forest Act of 1927. The court noted a prima facie indication that the project had destroyed vast tracts of reserved forest and coastal mangroves, natural buffers that protect millions of coastal residents from cyclones and tidal surges.
The writ names the Ministry of Environment, Forest Department, Department of Environment, Mirsarai Forest Range Office, BEPZA and BEZA as respondents. The bench had imposed a three-month status quo on all work across the 33,805-acre zone, effectively freezing development, and ordered the petitioner to serve notices to all respondents within 48 hours. The order was issued in the presence of Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed.
However, the freeze was short-lived. On 16 November, Justice Farah Mahbub of the Appellate Division suspended the High Court’s status-quo order following an appeal by BEPZA, allowing construction and land development to resume until the Rule is heard and disposed of. The suspension order was formally certified on 3 December.
BEZA says the zone has already attracted investment commitments worth around USD 18 billion—including USD 3–4 billion from foreign companies, with land allotted to 155 investors. Fifteen factories are currently operational, while another 28 are under construction.
Environmentalists argue the case could become a landmark test of how Bangladesh balances rapid industrialisation with the protection of fragile coastal ecosystems.
