With our colleagues in the Ethiopian Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, CIRDI is pleased to celebrate the launch of Ethiopia’s first online, publicly accessible mining cadastre portal. This important milestone was led by the Ministry staff, within the remit of CIRDI’s public sector capacity building program in Ethiopia that is financially supported by Global Affairs Canada.
To achieve its mining sector development targets, the Government of Ethiopia recognizes the importance of establishing accountable and informed systems and institutions that can facilitate investment, build shared value and ensure equitable access to benefits for vulnerable populations. The new cadastre portal will bring transformative changes to the efficiency and transparency of regulating the Ethiopian mining sector. The portal will enable the mining and exploration companies conduct their operations remotely, from any country in the world. Investors will hugely benefit from the upgraded license application functionalities and the most up-to-date licensing information for each region.
H.E. Mr. Assefa Kumsa, State Minister of Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, underscored that the National mining cadastre system is designed to bring about a win-win situation to all involved. The new system will enable the Ministry and Regional Mining bureaus to monitor revenues generated from the sector in real-time and run forecasts. Designed to eventually generate the sector’s contribution to the GDP, it will also serve as a powerful instrument for the governing body to generate data on direct employment created by foreign companies, national companies and artisanal miners.
“The Ethiopian National Mineral Cadastre System (EMCS) paves the way for endless possibilities for promoting economic growth, national investment programs, job creation and SME development in the Ethiopian mineral sector. It will also support efforts to generate mining-related revenues in a transparent manner and ultimately set environmental and socially acceptable conditions for the issuance of licenses for mining activity at all scales of operation from artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) to large scale mining (LSM). Covering licensing issues for both LSM and ASM via the EMCS represents a first in Africa for a comprehensive data system that links the central authority to sub-national regions in a truly functional way. It will also ensure timely and accurate reporting, improved capacity for real-time compliance and monitoring, and measuring impact on the economy. The input of Geological Survey of Ethiopia will be critical to supply data that creates opportunities for Ethiopian and foreign investors: it is rising up to the task in a very positive way, providing key maps that will service industry needs and the cadastre system more broadly.”- Isabeau Vilandre, Director, SUMM Ethiopia Project, CIRDI.
CIRDI would like to thank all the partners and supporters who have contributed to this critical milestone in the Ethiopian mining sector development.
CIRDI is proud to be part of this unique, complex and critically important endeavour that brings Ethiopia one step closer to achieving open, sustainable and responsible development of its natural resource sector.
This article was first published here https://cirdi.ca/the-ministry-of-mines-and-petroleum-launched-ethiopias-national-online-mining-cadastre-system/
