Procurement News Notice |
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| PNN | 514 |
| Work Detail | The Uganda government is considering installing weighbridges at all major mining centres and introducing open competitive bidding for new mining areas to boost revenue collection. The weighbridges are expected to help in calculations of royalties, while amendments to Mining Act are intended to deter the speculators. Mining companies owe the government over Ush4 billion ($1.2 million) in royalties -- which authorities says is an under estimation given that only a few districts and companies were sampled in the Value for Money Audits by the office of the Auditor General. "By failing to collect all the mineral fees that fell due and imposing the 2 per cent penalty on outstanding royalties, there is risk that this money may never be recovered -- yet this revenue could have been used to further develop and promote the mineral sector," said Auditor General John Muwanga. Under the Mining Act 2003, the Department of Geological Survey and Mines (DGSM) should have collected the amounts due and imposed the 2 per cent penalty above the commercial bank rates on outstanding royalties. The law empowers the DGSM to revoke licences if companies fail to comply. The DGSM inspected only 35 companies out of the 821 licensed to either carry on exploration or mining. The Minister for State in Charge Minerals Peter Lokeris said the government has a problem with inspection capacity. "Ministry officials do not have the logistics to move all around the country to monitor nor do we have proper technology to ascertain the volumes of minerals that have been extracted. What we get is an estimate," said Mr Lokeris. "We will install the weighbridges, which we think could address the problem," Mr Lokeris added in an interview with The EastAfrican. |
| Country | Uganda , Eastern Africa |
| Industry | Mining |
| Entry Date | 02 Sep 2016 |
| Source | http://allafrica.com/stories/201608280016.html |
