The Government Information Center

Due to the recent growth in the construction industry,�
the demand for fine aggregates is escalating
rapidly. River sand has been the most widely used fine
aggregates in Sri Lanka and over-exploitation of
river sand to meet the demand has led to various harmful
consequences such as increase in the depth of
the river bed, lowering of the water table, and
salinity intrusion into the rivers. Because of these
environmental problems, there is a necessity to restrict
river sand mining especially at vulnerable
locations. As a remedial measure, the government imposes
various restrictions on the extraction of river
sand with consequent increases in prices. Not only has
this inconvenienced the users directly, but also
indirectly impacted on the overall stability of the
construction industry owing to concomitant increases in
construction prices.

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A pilot survey revealed that individuals and state sector
clients seldom approve the use of shore sand or
offshore sand for concrete let alone reinforced concrete.
Further, the initial offshore sand stockpile lying in
Muthurajawela is exhausted and fresh offshore stockpiles
are being formed, but they require exposure to
rain. Therefore, further studies are required looking
into the suitability of offshore sand from different
perspectives. Since the potential environmental
damage due to offshore sand extraction is far less
compared to that due to river sand extraction.

As a result of these restrictions, obtaining sand at the
required quantities at required times, is a major
problem for those engaged in the construction industry.
As a solution to this problem our corporation has
launched a project to release offshore sand to the market
with the reasonable price and as a service of protection
of envirenment and sustainability of construction industry.

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Sand sales outlet

Telephone No.

Rate� per Cube

Muthurajawela (Wattala)

011-3193130

Rs 4,800/=

Mudun Ela (Kelaniya)

011-2875336

Rs 5,500/=

Kirimandala Mawatha (Nawala)

011-2908196

Rs 5,900/=

Attidiya� (Dehiwala)

011-3084465

Rs 6,400/=

Technical
Parameter

Admissible Limit
according to
SLS1397:2010

Test Reports taken from

SLLRDC

ITI

NBRO

KMM
Stock Pile

Attidiya
Stock Pile

Wedamulla
Stock Pile

Fines

3.0%

1.18%

1.33%

1.31%

-

-

Water Soluble
Chloride ion
Content

0.01% by mass

0.0005%

0.0005%

0.0004%

0.0004%

<0.01%

Acid Soluble
Sulphates

0.20% by mass

-

-

-

0.038%

0.016%

Total Sulphur

1.00% by mass

-

-

-

0.131%

0.03%

Shell Content

15.00% by mass

-

-

-

-

7.45%

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Test result from SLLRDC (Certificate No – EMT/DR1501/0014)

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Test result from ITI (Report No. SS – 1312154A)

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Test result from NBRO (Report No – WQ/2013/194)