Serbia mining: Kolubara mine company rent fees obligations toward state and local communities increased three times
, MiningLast year the obligations to the state and municipality governments reached a sum of about 22.807.000 MEUR. Just for the rent it is spent about 9.649.123 MEUR per year
The coal and overburden production is the primary task of the Mining Basin “Kolubara”, which it successfully achieves, but getting the “black gold” nuggets is not easy at all, what staff and management of this company know the best. Business expenses, in addition to the cost of materials, fuel, electricity, amortization, maintenance, and employees’ salaries also include a number of obligations including those to the state which are paid in the form of property tax obligations, land use tax obligations, tax obligations for environmental protection, mineral resources utilization, water fees and other similar fiscal benefits. These obligations belong to the costs category on which Economy Company cannot influence, because it is an expenditure which height regulates Republic by its decisions, and a significant part also the local government. That these are huge sums show the fact that in total business spending these obligations assume more than 6 percent.
In the past 2012. the obligations to the state recorded a significant growth and amounted about 23.245.614 MEUR. Compared to 2011. they were higher by one third , or about 34 percent. The largest part of the obligation to the state refers to the rent or fees for the mineral raw materials use and they amounted over 10.263.158 MEUR. This rent amount compared to 2011. increased by nearly 140 percent. The reason for this drastic increase lies in the fact that at the end of 2011, by the new Law on mining and geological researches among other things, the foot rate, which was applied to the revenue realized from the coal sale, increased from one to three percent, which is an increase of 300 percent. The effects of this increase showed in the 2012. By the new law, in addition to the existing charges for the mineral resources use, there is a new item in the form of fee for the nonmetallic raw material use for construction materials (fee for crushed stone, quartz sand and construction gravel). Otherwise, besides rents, significant sums in the amount of 9.649.123 MEUR were earmarked for the construction land use, property tax was 912, 281 MEUR, while fee for environmental pollution was over 1.491.228 MEUR.
Since the beginning of the year by the August, in the Mining Basin “Kolubara” came a total of 73 solutions for various taxes, and with those who will just arrive, by the end of this year the total debt will be around 21.842.105 MEUR. Given that part of the obligations (about 8.771.923 MEUR) imported from the previous 2012., despite the payment of more than 11.929.825 MEUR by the beginning of August, the expected total debt for “Kolubara” calculated obligations from 2012. and 2013. still are over18.421.053 MEUR. Numerous obligations that Mining Basin “Kolubara” has in different areas of its activity, undoubtedly affect the liquidity of the economy company, and because of that, one of the business goals in the future is economic and financial consolidation, with a focus on securing a higher level of liquidity.
There are delays
In the 2013.the rent fee will be approximately the same as in the last year, and according to the estimates will be10.263.158 MEUR. In the case of rent paying, part of payment of 50 percent goes to the Republic and the other 50 percent goes to the municipalities on whose territories the coal exploitation is done in proportion to the quantities which provide the EPS energy balance from these territories. There is a certain delay in settlement of these obligations. According to data from the relevant Ministry of Environment, Mining and Spatial Planning, from the total of 13.157.895 MEUR that is owed for the rent, 7.105.263 MEUR is the debt to the Lazarevac municipality, about 5.789.474 MEUR to Lajkovac and 412.281 MEUR to Ub.
Source: Serbia Energy/RBK/EPS
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