(TIMES) Idle infrastructure to be repossessed
Idle infrastructure to be repossessedBy Times Reporter
GOVERNMENT has started repossessing all infrastructure from licence holders who have not utilised them to enable new investors to take over. The Government will implement this decision next month after giving the organisations a grace period for them to comply with the provisions of the Mines and Minerals Act.
President Mwanawasa said this yesterday in a speech read for him by his Vice-President Rupiah Banda at the official opening of the African Mining Congress at Living stone’s Zambezi Sun Hotel.
Dr Mwanawasa said it was sad that many new investors could not access the vast landscape in Zambia because most of it has been taken up by mineral rights of one form or another, only for speculative purposes, rather than investment.
“Little or no work has been done on the tenements to permit partnership with other investors. Some holders of prospecting licences have outlived the legal limit and are denying other investors opportunities on the tenement,” Dr Mwaanawasa said.
He said because Zambia was implementing a policy of ‘use and leave it”, all tenements that had not been utilised by the licence holders would be repossessed by the Government.
The decision had been taken after an audit of all tenements found that many licence holders had not complied with the Act.
The licence holders had however, been given up to March 15, 2008 to comply.
“There are more than 380 gemstone mine owners and over 80 other small scale mining licence holders with accumulated unpaid area charges in excess of K10bn contrary to the law, “ the President said.
He said Government was determined to open up the Zambian landscape to investors hence, the cancellation whether the defaulters were holders of large scale or small mining rights before the new mining cadastre system opened to the public after March 31, 2008.
On the fiscal and regulatory policy changes on new mining investment in the sector, Dr Mwanawasa said the measures would not discriminate between owners of the old privatised mines and the new investors.
He stated that although some quarters had argued that new investors should be given exemptions from the fiscal and regulatory regime requirements because they had incurred debts to realise their investment, Government would treat all equally.
He said Government was aware that investors brought money into Zambia and was mindful that some owners of the old mines were investing in new projects largely by using money generated by the old mines.
He therefore encouraged the various mining companies at the congress to hold discussions and get into partnerships in the mining sector on how to enter into partnerships.
On the gas and petroleum sector, he said Government had received several enquiries from companies registered in UK, USA, Russia, China and South Africa wanting to invest in the sector.
He said Government was ready to give these companies an opportunity to invest in the petroleum sector because it would contribute largely to economic growth and strength.
He said analyses of samples collected from North-Western, Eastern and Western provinces strongly suggested the presence of oil and gas in the areas, which demanded that investors should quickly be given opportunities to invest in the promising regions.
And for this reason, Government would repeal the 1985 petroleum (exploration and production) Act to accommodate the changes to suit the current situation.
The conference is being attended by 30 mining companies from all over the world.
And speaking earlier, Meetings International Natural Resource Enterprise (MINE LLC) Chief Executive Officer Michelle Ashby said as the commodity markets continue to surge under world wide demand, Africa plays a key role in developing the required resources.
She said MINE LLC which hosts the Annual African Mining Congress organises investor meetings for natural resources, mining and modern energy industries adding that this year, over 30 mining companies are being featured at the on going congress.
Ms Ashby said the conference provides an ideal opportunity for mining companies to interact with a very targeted and interested group of investors by providing direct access to a number of interesting projects.
Labels: FDI, INFRASTRUCTURE, MINES AND MINERALS ACT
posted by MrK @ 11:59 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home