GOVERNMENT backbencher Ernest Smith has served notice that he is preparing to bring a civil suit against the commissioner of mines for not imposing the fines on bauxite-producing companies that have been tardy in reclaiming mined-out lands in his constituency.

"I don't care which party is government. I am going to file an action on behalf of the people of South West St Ann," Smith, a two-term member of Parliament, told The Sunday Gleaner.

Under the Mining Act, mining companies must restore mined-out lands within three years of the completion of mining.

Failure to reclaim mined-out lands attracts a fine of US$25,000 or the Jamaican equivalent. Where a mining pit is not restored, even after the US$25,000, the holder of the mining lease is liable to pay an additional sum of US$2,500 or the equivalent per hectare.

50 years in arrears

Smith has charged that the reclamation exercise in South West St Ann, in some instances, is as much as 50 years in arrears.

"I am going to bring an action against the commissioner for his failure to impose the penalty over the years and I am going to insist that the penalty be imposed, and that penalty will run into millions of dollars. That money will be used for sustainable development of the constituency," Smith told The Sunday Gleaner.

But Clinton Thompson, the commissioner of mines, said that bauxite-producing companies are working overtime to reduce the backlog of unreclaimed pits.

"There is a plan to address the backlog and they are working at that. What the companies are doing now is to try and prevent the fines," Thompson said, adding that the companies had been encouraged to complete reclaiming lands they disturbed since the law came into being. They were also trying to clear backlogs, he noted.

"The fines came into being in 2004 and you can't fine people retroactively," Thompson said, defending his actions not to impose the regulation on companies that have not reclaimed the lands in the given period.

However, checks by The Sunday Gleaner revealed that the fines had always existed. They stood at US$11,115 per hectare before Cabinet approved an increase in 2004.

Meanwhile, St Ann Bauxite Company, which mines in Smith's constituency, admitted in a parliamentary report that it had a massive backlog of unreclaimed lands.

The report, which was tabled in Parliament in December, said that the bauxite company attributed the backlog to the fact that the company had inherited huge volumes of unreclaimed lands from its former owners, Kaiser.

The sessional select committee on the economy and production, which considered the bauxite industry, said that annually, bauxite companies disturb an average of almost 100 hectares of land for bauxite mining and only about 76 hectares are restored, which limits the potential use of the land after mining has ceased.

The central parishes of St Ann, St Catherine, Manchester, Clarendon and St Elizabeth have all been scarred by bauxite mining, an industry which earns US$1 billion yearly.

Yet, despite the mega earnings of the bauxite/alumina industry, many bauxite areas cry out for attention.

nothing to show

Smith, for example, has said that despite over 50 years of mining in his constituency, the people of South West St Ann have nothing to show for their troubles.

"The people have absolutely nothing to show by way of capital development arising from any expenditure from the income from bauxite," Smith told The Sunday Gleaner.

Last year, the Government's coffers benefited from bauxite to the tune of US$107.6, representing inflows from income tax, bauxite levy and royalty.

This year, Government has projected $8.6 billion in revenue from the bauxite levy, but the target now appears unlikely. Between April and October last year, $3.2 billion in revenue went into Government's coffers, but the Capital Development Fund has recorded a shortfall of $1.55 billion based on its projections.

- Daraine Luton