Balochistan to run Reko Diq project itself
22 November, 2011
RAWALPINDI: The Balochistan government has cancelled the licence of the Reko Diq gold and copper mines given to a foreign company, Tethyan Copper Company (TCC), and decided to run the project itself.
Talking to a UK-based TV channel, Balochistan Mines Secretary Mushtaq Raisani said TCC had submitted the feasibility report of a limited area and did not include the whole area in its report.
"Under the law, the provincial government can cancel the contract of a company that does not meet the criterion," he added. He said the government had now decided to take forward this project utilising its own resources.
Balochistan National Party secretary information Agha Hassan Baloch opposed the provincial government's decision to take over the project. "The real representatives of the people are not sitting in the provincial assembly because nationalist parties boycotted the 2008 general elections. The project will become a source of corruption," he added.
Experts say making any headway on the Reko Diq project is beyond the capacity of the provincial government.
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