Mines Law Impasse Angers Officials

10 years ago | Posted in: Afghanistan, Business | 748 Views

A number of Afghan officials on Monday raised concern over the stalemate facing the new mines law in Parliament. They said the failure to pass the law was one of the major causes of declining investments in Afghanistan.

The new draft of the mines law was initially dispatched to the House of Representatives on June 9 by the State Ministry For Parliamentary Affairs.

The Afghan Investment Supporting Agency (AISA) has bemoaned that even with major foreign investments that could benefit the struggling Afghan economy on the line, eight months have been passed since the law was first brought to the Lower House.

According to experts, political obstacles in the cabinet involving accusations that the bill was prepared under the guidance of foreigners and would not serve the interests of Afghanistan have proved the major hindrance to passage. The Ministry of Mines has rejected the accusations and defended the draft law.

Meanwhile, the Afghan Ministry of Mines & Petroleum (MoMP) has said that the delay in approval of the mines law was having detrimental effects on investment in Afghanistan, causing foreign companies and governments to freeze or completely withdraw funds for new mining projects so long as the legal framework they would be working under remains in limbo.

“We hope that the new draft law is approved in appropriate time that could help us in implementation,” MoMP spokesman Mohammad Rafee Rafiq Sediqi said. “The current situation leads us toward the track where we lose opportunities and prolong the issue and possibly fuel greater harm to the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum.”

Officials have pointed out that failing to maximize opportunities in the mining sector, due to the stall in the mines law, has contributed to the government’s inability to rely on domestic sources of income for its budget. With the NATO coalition withdrawing at the end of the year, the issue of financial sustainability has become a growing concern for Afghan leaders who recognize that the country has been wholly dependent on international aid for over a decade.

Some Afghan lawmakers were equally as critical about the delay in the approval of the law.

“The delay in approval of any law, particularly the mines law, which could lead Afghanistan towards prosperity alongside other nations, is a national treason,” MP Ramazan Bashardost said. “In fact, the lawmakers who receive super scale salaries and drive Land Cruiser cars and keep bungalows are traitors.”

Members of Parliament’s Commission on Natural Resources and Environment said that the issue has been forwarded to eighteen separate commissions and their rulings are being awaited.

“We hope that it’s a law that could attract and boost investments in Afghanistan, the law should also prevent exploitation, meaning it must protect the economic resources of the country,” member of the Commission Qurban Kohistani said.

The Ministry of Mines & Petroleum (MoMP) has increased pressure on Parliament to approve the law, but with the winter holidays for lawmakers and the Presidential elections around the corner in April, ratification of the new mines law could be delayed further.

Tolonews.com

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