Download Report - Independent Evaluation Group - World Bank

27In mining, a new transparent and non-discriminatory regulatory framework (additionalmeasure 1) 30 was put in place with the enactment of a new Code in 1999, a new cadastrein May 2000, and the enactment of a law governing the fiscal regime of large miningprojects (at restructuring, additional measure 4 was limited to the enactment of that law,while the conditions relating to airport concessions and a second telecom company weredropped).6.18 In fisheries (measure 7), license fees for shrimp fishing were raised by 100percent in 1999 and, in June 2000, GOM adopted an allocation system based ontransparent, competitive, and non-discretionary delivery of licenses. The systemfunctioned for the 2000 season, but failed already in 2001, as operators entered intoinformal cartel agreements in submitting their renewal bids. At restructuring, therequirements of adjusting annual fees in accordance with the new system and of carryingout the recommendations of the audit of the Fonds de Développement Halieutique etAquicole were removed (the audit had not been done). A new requirement was added,i.e., that the forestry sector be subject to a similar licensing system as for fisheries, andthis was adopted in August 2002. In addition, the revised measure 7 required a review ofall licenses granted in the two sectors and the withdrawal of those issued illegally. Duringthe crisis, illegal licenses had been widely issued by local authorities. As noted above, noprogress was achieved in developing tourism and industrial zones (this was droppedunder measure 2 and replaced by actions pertaining to governance - see below).6.19 In the area of judicial processes, an action plan to improve caseload managementwas prepared and approved by the Bank in 2001, but was not implemented pending thefindings and recommendations of a forum tasked to expedite judicial proceedings. 31However, before approval of the plan, the Ministry of Justice had already adopted anumber of measures with some success. In the area of business environment, anArbitration Law was adopted and a Center for Arbitration and Mediation set up beforeBoard presentation, but recourse to arbitration is limited because of the high costs. Onthe basis of consultations with the private sector, measures aimed at streamlining theformalities for enterprise creation and for environmental appraisals were adopted but theywere hardly implemented (see additional measure 3 para. 6.2). 32Achievements under Public Resource Management6.20 A Technical Unit on Revenue Monitoring was created in the Budget Ministry inMarch 2000 to collect, analyze, and disseminate data relating to public revenues and agroup was made responsible for formulating medium and long-term fiscal policy (seemeasure 5 para.6.2). In December 2001, the Unit issued a report on revenues at thecentral and decentralized levels and on trends in tax collection over five years. However,it did not succeed in analyzing the determinants of revenue, closing tax loopholes, and30 In September 1999, as condition to Board presentation, the permit allowing a military entity, the Office MilitaireNational des Industries Stratégiques (OMNIS), to engage in mining activities had been withdrawn.31 A revised action plan was to be prepared on the basis of the conclusions of the forum, but had not been done by thetime the ICR was written (June 2003).32 As noted above, an effective “one stop shop”, under the acronym of GUIDE, was created only in October 2003 underPSDP-II.