Reduced fees to help mining cos
grappling with low ore price
PANAJI
Mining industry got a major breather in the recent budget when Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar lowered a number of transport and logistics related fees.
Parsekar reduced these charges by 90-100%. For example, he has lowered annual processing fees for raising contractor from Rs 100,000 earlier to Rs 10,000. Similarly, fees for transit permit for iron ore has been brought down from Rs 10 per ton of ore earlier to Rs 0.5 .
The CM has also waived off renewal fees for registration of trucks, barges and machinery for two years. A source said that all the waivers put together should amount to around $ 1 per ton, which means a lot given that the price of 56-grade iron ore is in the range of $30-35 per ton.
These fees were levied in 2013, when mining was already banned in the state. Also, most of these levies were not directly imposed on mining but on support industries like contractors and transports. But, these support industries were recovering these levies from mining industry.
Mining industry has been urging the government to reduce these fees as iron ore price in international market have come down by 70-80% from peak levels.
