Govt to tender for cadastre system

Golden Sibanda Senior Business Reporter—
GOVERNMENT will soon put to tender the computerisation of the country’s register of mining rights and titles to improve administration and avoid double title allocations. Mines and Mining Development Minister Walter Chidhakwa said on Friday that the tender would determine how much it would cost to establish the mineral cadastre.

“We are funding it ourselves together with the Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe. We have to go to tender (for the system). We need to improve title management,” he said.

The current system is going to be changed mainly to minimise the disputes that the country has been facing, which emanate from the lack of surveyed information.

The register or mineral cadastre will record the geographical locations, ownership and time validity of mining rights and show compliance with all the requirements. A clause on the cadastre will be contained in the amendments to the country’s mining law to be crafted after completion of the new minerals development policy.

According to the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development a mineral register would be the central database for storage of information on applications and licences.

It is envisaged procedures will be streamlined, thereby reducing processing time for issuance of mining title and other services in line with best practice across the globe.

Currently, mining licences demarcations are marked on the ground by metal stakes, concrete beacons or similar fixed points that were surveyed using conventional methods such as a theodolite or older methods involving tape and chains. The methods are time-consuming and demand a high level of skill to produce accurate surveys, with errors in locations of points on maps and on the ground being common.

In line with the new mineral cadastre system, a mining title will be granted in the form of a mining lease, where the title extends over four or more contiguous blocks.

Mining industry analysts contend that a well-implemented mining cadastre could make a difference in challenging environments while a poorly implemented mining cadastre system could complicate an already complex regulatory environment.

For a mining cadastre to be successful, it has to achieve a balance between protecting and guaranteeing the rights of the State and the titleholders, analysts said. To achieve this balance, it is essential for the mineral cadastre to ensure transparency in cadastral management for cadastral procedures and information.

The criteria and parameters to be considered and evaluated in the process of granting a licence should be objective and not subject to interpretation. Decisions relating to the legal and regulatory framework should not be discretionary.

Challenges include the need to ensure adequate political will, vested interests by officials in a non-transparent policy environment, ongoing regulatory changes and a large number of touch points in the mining permit or right approval process.