If the Mines and Minerals Bill 2020 is passed, the Economic Minister said that the government is well prepared with all the required experts and human resources. The minister added that a Mine and Minerals Rules and Regulations which has half the solutions will be ready to implement within six months of enacting the Act.
The discussion for the need of such Bill surfaced since 2010. However, it could not be tabled in the Parliament up until this government. Now that the Bill is thoroughly being discussed, both the Houses are proposing few changes from the Mines and Minerals Act of Bhutan 1995 which is still used to this day. Therefore, the parliamentarians in the Council questioned the government and relevant agencies’ preparedness to this possible enactment.
“In the current situation, mines and minerals contribute six per cent to our GDP growth. And before mining all the mines that we have, if we first do a surface collection, it will be wise. Our country is very small. If this Act gets passed and if we start mining everything, in future we might not be able to implement things as per our constitution. So if the Act gets adopted, what are plans that the ministry has?” asked Dorji Khandu, the Gasa’s Member of Parliament (MP) in the Council.
“If this Bill gets adopted by the government, how prepared are they? Preparedness in terms of human resource, equipment, plans to build the capacity of the workers. If the Bill gets adopted but if it is not implemented efficiently, there are even more risks that the service we provide will be disrupted. Secondly, the income that our country has been making till now might stop, so it would be helpful for our discussion if involved agencies could tell us their preparedness? asked Sangay Dorji, the Chhukha MP in the Council.
To this, the minister for the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MoEA) responded that as preparation, the government has started drafting Mines and Minerals Rules and Regulations the moment it was put up as a Bill in the House.
“They are still in the process of drafting that. When this Bill becomes an Act, we are working towards making all the rules and regulations ready within six months of its enactment. The Department of Geology and Mining has all three or four geology engineers who are experts. The concern that most ask is how the surface collection will be done in a rural area. We will also include this in the rules and regulations. The Act isn’t just the responsibility of the economics ministry and departments there. It needs a unanimous effort so that we do not duplicate certain rules. That’s why we have local government,” said Loknath Sharma, the Minister of MoEA.
The Minister added that the new Bill is tabled to meet the needs of the changing times and development of the country to make it consistent with the Constitution and other relevant laws.
Samten Dolkar/Yeshi Dorji
