The extracted rocks are piled in and around the MGMCL complex and the authorities concerned are struggling to find space for storing them. Earlier, at least 30.90 lakh tonnes of rock, extracted between 2001 and 2006 on trial basis, were sold very cheaply just to raise funds for its survival.

The government stopped the Annual Development Programme (ADP) backing for the mine since January plunging it into a monetary crisis. Considering the severe financial predicament, the authorities of the mine sought Tk 20 crore loan from the government early January to resume rock extraction but the government granted only Tk 5 crore.

According to mining officials concerned, the 1,00,000 tonnes of rock remain unsold as a rock trading syndicate, with government officials' connivance, prefer to import rocks, buying them at hefty $34 per tonne, since it leaves room for corruption. Illegal rock extraction in Panchagarh and Lalmonirhat are also affecting MGMCL's sale, they said.

They said the mine has been extracting around 800 to 1000 tonnes of rock every day since its parent company Petrobangla took over on May 25 this year from Namnam, the company that built the mine, with 99 percent of the project completed.

MGMCL officials said Bangladesh has an annual demand for 40.5 to 60.5 lakh tonnes of rock. Bangladesh Roads and Highways, Water Development Board (WDB), Bangladesh Railway, Local Government, Bangladesh Public Works Department and engineering departments have a collective demand that is 60 percent of the national demand.

Unplanned and illegal extraction of rocks like in Panchagarh and Lalmonirhat, posing a great ecological threat to the areas, meet 15 to 16 lakh tonnes of the country's demand. The rest of the country's demands are met by importing from neighbouring countries.

If the government and private entrepreneurs use MGMCL rocks only, they would be able to save the country several thousand crore taka every year, the officials claimed.

Quoting a Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology test report, they said the rock of MGMCL is much better in quality than the imported rocks.

The mine is selling rocks in three forms considering national and international demands. The boulders are selling at $17 per tonne, crushed stone at $20 while rock-dust is selling at $15 per tonne. There is, however, an additional 15 percent value added tax (Vat) the customers have to pay. The average extraction cost of rocks is $11 per tonne.

Bangladesh Railway recently expressed its interest to use MGMCL rocks to build new railway lines and ordered 1,300 tonnes of rock even though their requirement is about 5,000 tonnes.

MGMCL sources said if they cannot sell the rocks in stock shortly, they would be facing a more severe financial crisis and unable to pay for the running cost of the mine. They said they could have trouble paying the wages of 280 Bangladeshi workforce and the 63 Korean employees.

They said they are paying each Korean worker $1,000 monthly, according to the contract they signed, but this is becoming a burden for the mine.

Managing Director of the mine AQM Salim told The Daily Star that marketing initiatives have been taken up to sell the extracted rocks and the MGMCL has a plan to tune rock extraction according to the national consumption.

According to the original project proposal, MGMCL was supposed to extract 1.65 million tonnes (5500 tonnes a day) of granite annually. The project would last 46 years while the reserve is 174 million tonnes.