QUETTA: The head of the Balochistan Economic Forum, Sardar Shoukat Popalzai, expressed doubts on Sunday regarding the recently signed Reko Diq agreement between Balochistan government and just a Canadian business, Barrick Gold Corporation, saying significant issues needed to be resolved before moving forward with the project.
He claimed in a statement that the copper and gold resources in Reko Diq were among the biggest in the world and that the project was worth $260 billion.
He said that local participation was essential to the project’s success, saying that “even more voices were being raised against compromise agreement with the investor and pushing for autonomy and mineral rights.”He claimed that a number of issues, such as the state of law and order and political instability, have caused the mineral business in Balochistan to suffer tremendously.
According to Mr. Popalzai, other problems that have impeded projects in the past include dishonesty and malpractice in contract awarding, shares of the income other than royalties, and participation of locals in revenue.
He continued by saying that Pakistan has endured international humiliation as a result of the $6 billion fine imposed on it in the Reko Diq case.He continued by saying that previous governments’ poor handling of the Saindak copper mine had resulted in significant losses for the national exchequer.
“It [the Saindak project] had been finally developed with the assistance of a friendly nation, while numerous other mineral projects, like the lead and zinc task at Duddar, also faced challenges, leading Irish and Australian companies to make significant investments but abandon the project due to bureaucratic red tape.”
