afrol News, 4 December - A US$4 million grant will help Sierra Leone to introduce major reform in its mining sector and revamp the industry.

This follows the approval by the Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank of a $4 million IDA grant for the Mining Technical Assistance Project (MTAP) in Sierra Leone.

The project will help implement the country’s mineral sector reform by strengthening the government’s capacity to improve management and regulation of the mining sector within the framework of other donor assistance in the sector.

The World Bank said the desired results will be achieved by financing amongst others, the improvement of the regulatory regime for mining through preparation of environmental and social regulations and frameworks, as well as regulations for underground mining and precious minerals and diamonds trading.

The funding will also help in capacity building for the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Political Affairs to manage and promote geological data, develop selected mining areas rehabilitation plans, and improve administrative capacity.

Other areas that the funding will touch on include, the provision of temporary salary support to the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Political Affairs and prospective National Minerals Agency to sustain their human resource base; and project management.

MTAP is part of an integrated approach to extractive industries reforms that extends the goal of sound management and transparency. These include the full spectrum of the extractive industries management chain, from the awarding of licenses and contracts to the monitoring of operations, to the collection of taxes and sound, equitable distribution of revenues, and finally to the implementation of sustainable development projects.

The project will form a nexus of ongoing complementary activities by being a coordinated part of the broader reform framework in the country and ensuring that the mining sector reform fits within the regional context and is aligned with regional objectives laid out by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the World Bank’s Africa Action Plan.

The project will also fulfill the ongoing commitment by the World Bank to supporting governance, security and peace in Sierra Leone in line with its existing Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) and new Joint Assistance Strategy (JAS), particularly on outcomes that involve improving Government’s capacity to administer the mining sector and implementing anti-corruption measures applicable to the sector.

By staff writer

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