The Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy of Mozambique may revise its mining licensing process in order to minimise or even eliminate possible corruption practices, according to decisions adopted at the Third Coordinating Council held in the city of Matola, on the outskirts of the capital Maputo.

The minister responsible, Leticia Klemens, expressed concern about evidence of corruption in the granting of mining licenses, and called on staff to set up preventive measures and name anyone involved, in order to apply administrative and/or criminal penalties, Mozambican daily newspaper Noticias reported.

The spokesman for the Coordinating Council, Afonso Mabica, told the newspaper that this issue had been discussed “fairly in-depth and we found that, in fact, there is a need to improve the way we serve the public, so as to facilitate the licensing process.”

Mabica also said the meeting was positive, because the majority of the objectives proposed in the Economic and Social Plan for 2017 and the Government’s Five Year Programme for the sector are being achieved.

The spokesman for the Coordinating Council added that a representative of Italian group ENI had made a presentation on the evolution of the project for exploration of natural gas deposits in the Rovuma basin. (source:Macauhub)