National Minerals Data Centre being set up to facilitate investors

Web Desk

09th Jul, 2021. 07:33 pm
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National Minerals Data Centre being set up to facilitate investors

ISLAMABAD: The Petroleum Division would initiate a new project to compile the data of available minerals for the facilitation of investors and future projects’ planning in the country.

The two-year project, titled “National Minerals Data Centre (NMDC)”, is a joint venture of the petroleum and planning divisions that would be carried out at a total cost of Rs295 million in consultation with all the provincial mines and minerals departments, including of Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Geological Survey of Pakistan.

“Pakistan has world-class minerals’ resource potential but the contribution in the national GDP is 1 per cent, which is considerably below the global average of 2 per cent to 8 per cent of GDP, primarily due to unavailability of the integrated geological, regulatory and other relevant data that is the basic requirement for investment facilitation and projects’ planning,” according to an official document available with the APP.

The government has allocated funds amounting to Rs263 million under the Public Sector Development Programme 2021/22 to start the National Minerals Data Centre project.

Under the project, Geographic Information System (GIS)-based integrated solutions and application development would be developed to ensure availability of online geo-spatial data and maps for investment facilitation and benefit of the stakeholders in the minerals sector.

The National Minerals Data Centre would contain information such as geological and geochemical maps, minerals sample analysis reports, airborne geophysical maps, areas granted and applied for mineral titles, roads and rails layers, geographical borderlines (province, district and town), reserves areas like strategic, forest and religious places.

The compiled data would be categorised for publication through web-portal as per the guidelines issued by the government. “The exercise will be a regular activity and information will be updated accordingly.”