Peshawar:
The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government on Tuesday issued a whitebook on the proposed mines and minerals (amendments) 2025, which detailed the most important features and goals of the legislation.
Main Minister Ali Amin Gandapur clarified that no powers were transferred from the provincial government under the proposed legislation, which called the opposition to reform a result of “misunderstandings”.
He said a mafia with great interest can withstand the changes for personal gain.
Meanwhile, according to the White Paper, the proposed changes are aiming to harmonize mineral laws with them from other provinces and the federal government, attracts large -scale domestic and international investment and improve transparency through a digital mining system.
Meanwhile, a mineral investment facility authority would be created and mineral titles and licensing procedures would be streamlined through digitalization.
According to the legislation, the license period has been reduced to three years to facilitate the lease collection and an independent appeals court will be formed to ensure impartial and timely justice.
The department will also be bound to develop a geological database. A special strength would be composed to limit illegal mining through machine fishing and stricter sanctions.
Existing leases and pending applications remain unaffected by the new legislation.
Investment boundaries will be clarified for merged districts, small scale and craftsmining.
“We have increased provincial revenue through political reforms in the mineral sector,” Gandapur said. “Illegal mining was underway for 76 years at golden Charsadda places, yet no previous government tried to stop it.”
In a related development, Pakistan Tehreek-E-Insaf (PTI) has formed a committee with three members to conduct a thorough review of the bill following concerns that party members traveled by party members and the opposition.
The committee is tasked with reviewing each clause, identifying ambiguities or deficiencies and making recommendations to increase transparency, maintaining provincial autonomy, respecting public rights and ensuring that the law serves the wider public interest.
