Severe river erosion in the Sandwip Channel in Chattogram has exposed two submarine cables that supply electricity from the national grid to Sandwip. A report published on August 16 said about 50 feet of the cables become visible at low tide. The affected site is about 1.5 kilometres from the landing station in Ward 5 of Bauria ইউনিয়ন, and the condition has persisted for three months. Failure of the cables could leave the island upazila's roughly 450,000 residents without power for an extended period.

The Water Development Board placed geobags in June to prevent erosion, but they did not hold, and stronger tides exposed more of the cables. Electricity has been supplied to Sandwip through the cables since 2018. The cables have a 50-megawatt capacity and a stated 50-year service life, while 10 megawatts are currently being supplied initially. The Bangladesh Power Development Board has not yet conducted a risk assessment and is awaiting specialists from Chinese contractor Jiangsu Zhongtian Technology Co. Ltd., or ZTT.

Chief Engineer Kamal Uddin Ahmed said work was being coordinated among three parties, including the Water Development Board and the foreign contractor, but the contractor had not yet visited. The Institute of Water Modelling said BPDB had not contacted it and that changing local conditions should be assessed. It recommended regular monitoring of the cable's entire length.