DHAKA: Bangladesh has ordered a building freeze on its lone coral island in a bid to save its wildlife and natural beauty from a boom in construction fuelled by tourism, its environment minister Hasan Mahmud said on Tuesday. The eight square kilometre St Martin’s island has been declared an ecologically critical area and new buildings are banned there.

“We have also ordered an inventory of the existing infrastructure that threatens the island’s ecology,” he said, adding that any buildings that harm the environment would be demolished.

St Martin’s island, situated 400 km south of the capital Dhaka, is Bangladesh’s lone coral island.