Minister of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining Hon. Jean Namathanga MP, today met with the Director General of the National Planning Commission (NPC) Mr. Fredrick Changaya and his team to discuss areas of collaboration in the sectors of natural resources, energy, and mining.
During the meeting, the NPC outlined its support to the Ministry in implementing key national development priorities.
On electricity, discussions centred on NPC’s commitment to assist the Ministry in implementing short-, medium-, and long-term generation options to enhance energy security and reduce the risk of future blackouts.
Regarding fuels, NPC proposed the introduction of a weighbridge system linked to a digital dashboard to monitor tanker inflows, promotion of electric vehicles to curb fuel demand, enforcement of the Automatic Pricing Mechanism to align pump prices with import costs, and collaboration with universities to promote innovation in the transport sector.
In the mining sector, the NPC expressed readiness to support the review of mining agreements and to strengthen capacity within the sector.
For natural resources, NPC proposed leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) in geospatial mapping to enhance resource management and planning.
On the green economy, the Commission emphasised the importance of improved coordination among the Ministry, the private sector, and NGOs through an established green economy platform.
On her part, Namathanga commended NPC for its forward-looking approach and requested the Commission to develop a position paper detailing collaboration modalities with the Ministry’s technical team.
She further encouraged the creation of a tracker to outline specific timelines and deliverables for joint activities to ensure effective implementation.
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