DEBATE ON MINES AND MINERALS BILL ADJOURNED
Minister of Mines and Energy Moses Garu. Photo credit: Parliament.
Debate on the Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill 2014 has been adjourned pending a report from the Parliamentary Bills and Legislative Committee.
Tabling the Bill on Wednesday, Minister for Mines and Minerals, Moses Garu, said the mining industry is integral to inclusive economic growth in Solomon Islands and needs reforms.
Minister Garu said these reforms need to be strategic and proactive to trigger growth.
Some of these reforms include increasing royalty rates for resource owners from one-point-two per cent to 40 per cent.
“Under the current arrangement royalty, exporting duty has been assessed at one point five per cent, as you are aware the royalty is exclusively shared with the landowners at one point two per cent and the Provincial Government at point three per cent and export duty is paid to the National Government. Mr Speaker as the tax base for these fiscal charges is the same, this can then be expressed as a royalty rate of three per cent with revenue sharing according to the following percentages: National Government fifty percent, landowning groups forty percent and the Provincial Government ten percent.”