Centre to bear financial burden of Reko Diq's development: PM

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday announced that the federal government would bear financial burden for the development of the Reko Diq mining project in Balochistan - one of the world’s biggest untapped deposits of copper and gold.

In a tweet, the prime minister said the decision to bear the financial responsibility of the project on behalf of the Balochistan government was taken in line with the Centre's vision for the uplift of smaller provinces.

He said the step would help usher in an era of prosperity for the people and the province.

‘Historic decision’

Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo welcomed the development, praising the premier for the step taken by the federal government.

In a statement, Bizenjo noted that the historic decision for the people of Balochistan will usher in peace and prosperity in the province.

The prime minister’s announcement comes in the wake of criticism from political leaders of the province who had criticised the "proposed agreement" of the Reko Diq project.

The Balochistan Assembly had also recently adopted a resolution on the project, warning that no agreement about the future of the project would be accepted without taking Balochistan’s elected representatives and the provincial government on board.

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“Deep concern was expressed over non-consultation with the assembly on the proposed agreement on the Reko Diq project,” it read.

The resolution was unanimously passed after the House was informed that the federal government was going to sign an agreement or a memorandum of understating on copper and gold mining without taking the Balochistan government and assembly into confidence.

A special committee consisting of 18 members of the Balochistan Assembly has been set up keeping in view the proposal of the members of the assembly.

Tethyan Copper discovered vast mineral wealth more than a decade ago in Reko Diq, at the foot of an extinct volcano near Pakistan’s frontier with Iran and Afghanistan. The deposit was set to rank among the world’s biggest untapped copper and gold mines.

An international arbitration tribunal of the ICSID had slapped a penalty of $6 billion on Pakistan on July 12, 2019, for its 2011 decision to deny a mining lease for the Reko Diq project to the TCC, a consortium of Chilean and Canadian companies.

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The tribunal – chaired by Germany’s Klaus Sachs and including Bulgarian arbitrator Stanimir Alexandrov and the UK’s Lord Hoffmann – had ordered Pakistan to pay over $4 billion in damages to the TCC in addition to $1.7 billion in pre-award interest.

The tribunal found that Pakistan had unlawfully denied the TCC a lease to mine copper and gold deposits at the Reko Diq mine, located in the Chagai district of Balochistan.