MOGADISHU ( Halbeeg News)-Somali Upper House committee has firmly denounced an upcoming conference in London aimed to discuss the natural resource in the country mainly on oil and petroleum sector.
The upper house committee on the natural resources has termed the forum set on Thursday unconstitutional.
The committee said the bidding process expected to be unveiled in the UK conference is against the law of the country.
“The parliament is yet to debate on the petroleum law and the other related regulations including investment, revenue, and environmental protection,” reads the statement.
The committee also said the dispute between the federal government and regional administrations, and the pending laws on resource sharing makes the consultation in London unrealistic.
“According to article 44 of the provisional constitution, the federal government and member states will negotiate on the resource sharing,” the statement said.
The committee of the upper house further stated that Somali petroleum authority, the national body that is responsible for the management of the project, is yet to be established adding that any contract signed with the absence of the relevant departments makes the process illegitimate.
Somalia’s minister for petroleum and natural resource, Abdirashid Mohamed Ahmed and other senior government officials are already in London to take part in a conference in which spectrum company will showcase possible locations inside the country where oil reserves can be extracted in future.
The forum is scheduled to kick off on Thursday, 7th February.
The government has dismissed claims by the members of the opposition that there is bidding process taking place to sell oil blocks to drilling companies.
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