Move to amend, update Mines and Mineral Rules '68
M Azizur Rahman | Wednesday, 6 August 2008
The energy ministry has taken a move to amend and update the country's existing Mines and Minerals Rules 1968 to woo foreign investments and expedite development of the coal sector, officials said.
"We have taken steps to change the rules to exploit the country's potential mineral resources," Chief Adviser's special assistant on energy issues professor M Tamim told the FE Tuesday.
He said the regulations relevant to coal would be framed in accordance with the proposed national coal policy to ensure utilisation of the country's large coal reserves.
Instead of fixed royalty rate, as stated in the existing mines and mineral rules at 6.0 per cent for open-pit coal mines and 5.0 per cent for underground coal mines, the energy ministry is expected to authorise the proposed coal sector development committee to re-fix the royalty rate.
After working for a number of years, the energy ministry recently finalised the draft national coal policy where it was recommended that a coal sector development committee comprising professionals from all walks of life would fix the royalty rate for coalmining.
The committee would fix the royalty rate of different coalmines considering mine-specific geological structures instead of the existing mining rules, the draft coal policy recommended.
The energy ministry also wants that awarding of licences for explorations from any coalmine would be through open tenders, whereas the existing rules say that the licences would be awarded to parties on first-come-first-served basis.
To bring the changes to the mines and mineral rules the energy ministry Tuesday constituted a 12-member committee headed by its deputy secretary.
Senior officials of the ministries of finance, land, law, science and information and communication technology and law, chairmen of Petrobangla, Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission, and director generals of the Department of Environment (DoE), Geological Survey of Bangladesh (GSB) and Hydrocarbon Unit, director Bureau of Mineral Development (BMD) and senior assistant secretary of the energy ministry are the members of the committee.
"We have taken steps to change the rules to exploit the country's potential mineral resources," Chief Adviser's special assistant on energy issues professor M Tamim told the FE Tuesday.
He said the regulations relevant to coal would be framed in accordance with the proposed national coal policy to ensure utilisation of the country's large coal reserves.
Instead of fixed royalty rate, as stated in the existing mines and mineral rules at 6.0 per cent for open-pit coal mines and 5.0 per cent for underground coal mines, the energy ministry is expected to authorise the proposed coal sector development committee to re-fix the royalty rate.
After working for a number of years, the energy ministry recently finalised the draft national coal policy where it was recommended that a coal sector development committee comprising professionals from all walks of life would fix the royalty rate for coalmining.
The committee would fix the royalty rate of different coalmines considering mine-specific geological structures instead of the existing mining rules, the draft coal policy recommended.
The energy ministry also wants that awarding of licences for explorations from any coalmine would be through open tenders, whereas the existing rules say that the licences would be awarded to parties on first-come-first-served basis.
To bring the changes to the mines and mineral rules the energy ministry Tuesday constituted a 12-member committee headed by its deputy secretary.
Senior officials of the ministries of finance, land, law, science and information and communication technology and law, chairmen of Petrobangla, Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission, and director generals of the Department of Environment (DoE), Geological Survey of Bangladesh (GSB) and Hydrocarbon Unit, director Bureau of Mineral Development (BMD) and senior assistant secretary of the energy ministry are the members of the committee.