Petroleum Bills to be passed before budget reading

Accra, Oct 16, GNA - The Petroleum Exploration and Production Bill and Petroleum Revenue Management Bill would be passed before the budget for 2011 would be read in November, this year.

Mr Cletus Avoka, Majority Leader in Parliament, said when

Parliament resumes sitting on October 19, efforts would be

made to ensure that those bills are passed.

He, therefore, urged the committee working on the bills to

expedite action to get the bills ready for the House to debate on

them so that it would have time to scrutinize the budget without

interruption.

Mr Avoka said this at a three-day workshop, organized by

the Parliamentary Centre, with support from the Revenue

Watch Initiative and the Canadian Parliamentary Centre for a

section of Parliamentarians.

They are from the committees on Mines and Energy,

Finance, Public Accounts, Lands and Forestry, Local

Government and Rural Government, Environment and Science,

Agriculture, Defense and Interior and the leadership in

Koforidua, in the Eastern Region.

Mr Avoka said the bills should not overlap the budget period

otherwise the House would either do a shoddy work or the bills

would have to be sacrificed for the budget.

Issues discussed at the workshop include the Petroleum

Regulatory Authority Bill, which is being formulated; Promoting

Good Governance; Encouraging Efficient Natural Resource

Development; and Petroleum Revenue Challenges.

Others are Spending; Savings Decisions and the Ghanaian

Plan; Balancing Stabilization and Heritage Funds and others.

He noted that the committees had gone on tours and

attended workshops in Ghana and abroad to learn the best

practices of the Petroleum Industry and, therefore, Ghanaians

expect a good quality Law.

The committee, he said, should approach it in a non-partisan

manner, guided by patriotism and nationalism.

He said the nation needs a law that would address issues on

accountability and transparency and one that can be

implemented.

"If it becomes a bad law it would be tantamount to causing

financial loss to the state."

Mr Seth Terkper, Deputy Minister of Finance and

Economic Planning, said for the petroleum wealth to benefit

Ghanaians now and in the future an effective industry regulatory

environment is needed.

Additionally, he said: "There should be a fiscal regime

effective enough and without which there will be very little to

show for the depletion of petroleum resources and this include

the development of the right revenue management regime."

Papa Owusu Ankomah, member for Sekondi, called for the

establishment of a Commission for the Regulation,

Management and Coordination of the activities of the petroleum

sector.

It is a constitutional provision that natural resources should

be managed by a commission.