NMTD mine leases under new regime begin today

Leases will be granted under the amended mines and minerals law

PESHAWAR: The provincial government will start issuing a lease for mines and mineral extraction in the erstwhile federally administered tribal areas from Thursday (today) as per the amendments made in the Mineral Sector Governance (Amendment) Act 2019.

This was stated by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Minister for Mines and Mineral Dr Amjad Ali on Wednesday while speaking to the media.

Dr Ali said that that the amended law had defined the procedure for mining operations and the award of mineral titles for the newly-merged tribal districts (NMTDs).

According to the amended law, priority in awarding lease will be given to the local community.

Moreover, to introduce transparency, he said that the law will also introduce electronic-bidding systems for minor minerals sector. This system, he hoped, will help reform the process for auctioning minor minerals at the district level.

With the new amendments in the mineral law being implemented, he said that residents of the province can apply for mines online. This way, he explained, applicants will not have to wait for the government offices to open for their applications to be processed, nor will they have to travel long distances to the designated offices and stand in long queues to submit their applications.

In response to a question, Dr Ali said that the amendments will benefit people from NMTDs the most as mineral licences will be issued to locals. These licence-holders can then enter into joint ventures with contractors hailing from other areas, and even from other countries to exploit minerals.

“The new, amended law will bring economic prosperity in the NMTDs and the mineral and mining sector will get the desired results,” he emphasized, adding that it will “also benefit and empower locals through legislations, and will provide relief to people of the area.,

He said that the government wanted to empower people NMTDs economically through legislations and end their deprivations.

The amendment is formulated to facilitate investors in the mining sector of the province, as it is one of the key sectors in K-P which can provide a boost to the economy, he said.

The mines and mineral minister further said that through the law, they want to encourage the use of best mining practice which are not only safer for the workers involved but which also ensure the greatest protection for minerals which are being mined.

“The law emphasises on the protection of marble and granite deposits by switching from blasting techniques [as used previously] to mechanised mining,” he said.

To curb illegal mining, the minister said that it has been declared as a cognisable and non-bailable offence.

Further, he said that the amendment had prescribed enhanced imprisonment for violators, raising the sentence from three years to five years in jail along with a fine.

The amended law, Dr Ali said, also creates a system to redress grievances. This includes the formation of an Appellate Tribunal to dispose of appeals filed against the orders of the licencing authority concerning large and small scale mining, and minor minerals.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 2^nd, 2020.