ISLAMABAD, Dec 11: Pakistan has decided to launch a modified National Mineral Policy that aims at increasing mineral contribution to economic growth from the present 0.4 per cent ($500 million) to three per cent (about $2 billion) per annum of GDP.
The new policy initiative comes in the aftermath of two major mineral sector developments during the last two months.
Pakistan has become an exporter of copper and gold from its Saindak area and its shares were ovrsubcribed at the Australian stock market, officials told Dawn.
The World Bank has also been involved in the policy preparation in the light of international best practice in the mineral sector. Based on recommendations of the World Bank, the government would introduce a mining law and regulation, revise its mining fiscal regime and improve infrastructure and institutional arrangements.
The development of Pakistan’s mineral resources has been limited to numerous quarries producing industrial minerals of limestone, rock salt, marble, gypsum and a modest amount of coal for internal power generation, but the private sector has remained absent from this sector as environment has not been attractive to the global market.
The policy, a draft of which available with Dawn, would focus on areas that could make Pakistan’s mineral resources attractive in the international market for prospective investors.
Some of the key areas of improvement would include institutional capacity and structure, information dissemination, standardization, security, legal obligations, environmental protection, stability of policies and fiscal regime.
The draft policy says that at present public mining institutions lack technical capacity, managerial skills and material support for the implementation of the National Minerals Policy for the development of the mining sector.
The policy would create, over a period of 3-5 years, the organizational capacity and trained manpower, which will allow the institutions to fulfil their functions as regulatory bodies, supervisors and promoters of private investment.
The focus of the licensing division of the departments of mineral development would be exclusively on the processing of applications for, and the grant or refusal, recording, maintenance, amendment, transfer, renewal and cancellation of mineral titles, and the compilation and publication of information related thereto.
The policy suggests need for a separate mines department and inspectorate, as well as an environmental permitting and compliance monitoring unit in the provincial departments of mineral development.
Rigorous rules for the use and maintenance of a registry of applications for mineral rights would be established and implemented.
