Faiza Tehseen

The mineral sector of Pakistan must be privatized to bring efficiency, innovation, and investment, opines Abdul Bashir, chief geologist at the Balochistan-based Koh-e-Daleel Minerals Company (Pvt) Limited, while talking to WealthPK. "The private companies are more inclined to invest in research and development to improve extraction techniques, environmental sustainability, good mining practices, technological advancement, bringing innovation, and safety measures in the mining industry. All these features may not be available in state-owned organizations. Through privatization, processes become more streamlined, cost-effective, productive, and competitive. The private sector is more capable of luring both local and international investors," he said. Bashir said the mining sector of Pakistan lagged because of a lack of skilled people and highly technical experts.

Hiring the services of foreign experts is necessary for this concern. Rather than the state-owned organizations, the private sector keeps sufficient funds to afford it. Local people working with foreign experts may also train and they can further train more people related to this industry. "It's true that privatization brings competition in the market, but total negligence of checks and balances from the government's side will create chaos. So, in every mining project established through private bodies, whether local or foreign, the government must keep a small or large share. It is necessary to meet the quality standards, prevent monopolistic practices, ensure safety of workers' rights, protect a healthy work environment, avoid market failure, and ensure the benefits of privatization for national welfare.

It will help create good work and job opportunities, generate revenue, and increase productivity and profitability in the mining sector," he added. Talking to WealthPK about the importance of privatization in the mining sector, miner and gemmologist Imran Babar said, "It is necessary to upgrade the whole system in a multitude of aspects – the leases will be issued only on merit, more investment will be injected into the sector, and machinery for lapidary and other mining units will be replaced. By doing so, foreign geologists and gemmologists will also come to the country, making it easy to train the local people. Privatization will also reduce the influence of too many official departments." Discussing the need for privatization to uplift the mining sector, Muhammad Yousaf, mining engineer and General Secretary of the Institute of Mining Engineers Pakistan, said, "Informally, the mineral sector is privatized to some extent in Pakistan.

A lot of small and large-scale miners are working, but a formal announcement concerning privatization under flexible terms from the government will work wonder." He said state-owned companies like the Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation (PMDC) at the federal level owned a few leases for salt and coal. Each provincial mining department also works on its leases for limited minerals, but a lot of private bodies are also playing a vital role in keeping this sector active. He said many other projects, established by private miners or mining companies, were mining a variety of minerals. To flourish, they are badly in need of self-independence to some extent, which is only possible through the coordination of government at both the federal and provincial levels.

It will help break the monopolies which are eclipsing this sector. The most prominent one is the lease license regularization on merit only. He further said, "Private sector investors are always conscious of turning their investments into handsome profits. So, they work hard to maintain quality and avoid lease agreement breaches. If they are allowed to work independently and the government accepts all of their legitimate demands, they will work more confidently. Besides privatization, the government must frame good policies to support the private mining companies. A combination of these steps will lead to a positive change."

INPCredit: INP-WealthPk