Bangladesh’s Supreme Court has lifted a High Court order that halted all construction and development at the vast Mirsarai Economic Zone, now rebranded as the National Special Economic Zone (NSEZ), clearing the way for authorities to resume work on one of the country’s largest industrial projects despite accusations of massive ecological damage.
The High Court had imposed the freeze on 9 September 2025 after a public-interest writ filed by Supreme Court lawyer Barrister Kazi Akhtar Hosain, citing The Climate Watch’s investigative findings that the project had illegally razed thousands of acres of reserved forest and coastal mangroves in Chattogram.
The new instruction, issued by Justice Farah Mahbub of the Appellate Division on 16 November and certified on 3 December, suspends the High Court’s status quo order until the Rule is fully heard. The decision allows BEZA and BEPZA to resume activities across the 33,805-acre development.
The case has become a flashpoint in Bangladesh’s wider debate over how to regulate industrial expansion in ecologically fragile zones.
High Court found prima facie evidence of ecological destruction
The High Court had issued a Rule Nisi asking the government to explain why the NSEZ should not be declared unlawful for violating the Forest Act of 1927. The bench cited prima facie evidence that development had razed protected forest and mangrove ecosystems, causing “serious damage to ecology, biodiversity and the lives of millions of people and other species.”
Respondents named in the writ included the Ministry of Environment, Forest Department, Department of Environment, Mirsarai Forest Range Office, BEPZA and BEZA. The petitioner sought cancellation of the entire project and restoration of the destroyed landscape.
Petitioners: ‘This case is about rights, law and resilience’
Following the High Court ruling, The Legacy Attorneys called the intervention a crucial step toward environmental accountability. Barrister Hosain said evidence documented by The Climate Watch compelled the petition. “This is not only about trees,” he said. “It is about the rights of local people, the rule of law, and the future of our coastal resilience.”
Supreme Court stays status quo order
BEPZA and another petitioner later moved the Appellate Division, arguing the freeze had paralysed a national-priority project. After hearing both sides, Justice Mahbub stayed the High Court’s interim order, directing that the Rule be heard expeditiously by a bench led by Justice Foyej Ahmed.
A stalled megaproject with far-reaching environmental stakes
The freeze had halted almost 34,000 acres of industrial development that environmentalists say has already dismantled natural buffers essential for cyclone and storm-surge protection. Petitioners argue that continued clearance of forest land could magnify climate risks for coastal communities.
Hosain urged an urgent hearing of the writ, expressing hope that “the Rule will ultimately succeed and the project will be discontinued to safeguard the lives of millions and the biodiversity of the region.”
Indian Economic Zone scrapped amid scrutiny triggered by Mirsarai exposé and court intervention
In a significant aftershock to the Mirsarai controversy, the government has quietly scrapped the planned Indian Economic Zone in Mirsarai, Chattogram, and the parallel zone in Mongla, Bagerhat — a decision officials acknowledge was influenced by the investigative reporting, public attention and legal pressure that followed The Climate Watch’s exposé and the High Court’s subsequent intervention.
Senior officials told The Climate Watch that the cancellation came after Bangladesh assessed the reputational, ecological and governance risks of keeping the dormant India-backed projects alive while the NSEZ faced intense judicial scrutiny.
Chowdhury Ashik Mahmud Bin Harun, executive chairman of BIDA and BEZA, confirmed that the Indian Economic Zone has now been “removed from the G2G framework.” He said discussions had remained “preliminary or conceptual,” with no contract ever signed and no activity on the ground. “A project was taken up to establish the Indian Economic Zone in Mirsarai, but no progress was made,” he said, adding that its tenure expired in June and the line-of-credit (LoC) funding was cancelled.
Officials said Bangladesh sent multiple reminders to New Delhi seeking consent to invite international tenders for land development but received no response — a silence that became increasingly untenable once forest destruction at Mirsarai drew national outrage and judicial scrutiny.
As pressure mounted, the government opted to shut down the India-backed scheme altogether, effectively abandoning a proposal first framed in a 2015 MoU. Bangladesh had allocated 900 acres in Mirsarai and 110 acres in Mongla for the zones.
Authorities now say the land will be reassigned for alternative uses, though no final decision has been taken.
