Sierra Leone: Restructuring Minerals Sector is Urgent

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Concord Times (Freetown)

8 July 2008
Posted to the web 8 July 2008

Ibrahim Tarawallie

President Ernest Bai Koroma Monday said in the current era of rising commodity prices especially for fuel and rice, the need to restructure the minerals sector is urgent.

Speaking at a one-day presidential workshop on minerals sector reform organized by the strategy and policy unit of his office and the ministry of mineral resources, Koroma said the minerals sector should benefit from increased private sector investment from credible companies.

He said the minerals sector should also provide a fair share of the benefits in the form of public revenue for further investment.

"It is customary for mining companies to support communities in the localities of the mines so that they will realize reasonable benefits," he said.

Koroma said as a growth sector, the exploitation of minerals should not merely be viewed in terms of its revenue and export earnings but equally in terms of the other spill-over effects such as technology transfer.

He said as the country opens for business, the competitive nature of the global economy must not be ignored.

Koroma observed that none of the mining companies operating in the country reports their profits to the government and that the revenue from corporate tax was zero. "It is time to move beyond talking about our huge capital potential to delivering results for the people," he said.

He reaffirmed his government's commitment to implement reform in the minerals sector to facilitate economic growth and poverty reduction.

Director of mines at the ministry of mineral resources, Rasim Wurie said the mining sector suffered lots of setbacks due to the war and other factors. He said one of the objectives of the workshop was to demonstrate the economic and social development potentials of Sierra Leone's minerals sector.

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