Laos govt to revise mining policy
The government will revise its mining policy with the aim to generate more revenue from mine concession projects, a senior government official has said.
The move comes after the government has learnt that Laos has collected relatively little from many mining projects it has previously granted concessions to investors for.
The Lao government suspended the granting of new concessions for mining projects in June last year after finding that the government has collected very little revenue from many projects.
In addition, officials have also found that many investors have not taken action to carry out mining projects after being given concessions from the government.
Officials in charge are currently inspecting mine projects across the country as the government has announced it will revoke concessions for projects whose operators have failed to act on agreements they made with government, notably those whose progress has stalled.
Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Bounthavy Sisouphanthong said officials would finalise and finish inspection by 2014 before revising the policy. “The government plans to complete the revision of the policy before consideration will be given to granting new concessions after 2015,” he said last week.
“We feel that we have gained little from some previous concessions,” he said.
In total, the government has approved concessions for 470 mine projects amounting to US$5.9 billion. Of these, 204 projects have been approved by the central government and the rest by local authorities.
Minister of Planning and Investment Somdy Douangdy told the National Assembly that officials have finished inspecting and assessing 170 mine projects approved by the central government. Some 14 mine projects were rated as grade ‘A', 92 projects as grade ‘B', 56 projects as grade ‘C', while eight projects scored a ‘D'.
Somdy told parliament the ministry would propose that eight projects that scored a ‘D’ should be revoked.
Eight standards were used to assess projects including whether investors took prompt action to carry out the projects, complied with agreements and laws, environmental management and contribution to communities living nearby.
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