Minister Lamin B. Dibba of the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Natural Resources (MECCNAR) of The Gambia, has reported that the total revenue collected from royalties, fines, serving of permits and licenses stands at D10, 801,367.
The head of ministry made the disclosure on Wednesday, 31 March 2021, in response to a question posed to him by the National Assembly Member (NAM) for Kiang Central, Hon. Bakary Camara, to wit: ‘Can the Minister inform the Assembly the total revenue collected from all the Regional forests, in terms of fines, serving of permits and licenses?’
Minister Dibba disclosed the total revenue collected, in terms of royalties, in the West Coast Region (WCR) as D945,208; confiscation of illegal forest products D465,900; Court fines amount to D26,000; while permits and licenses accrued D623,250. He added that the total revenue collected in the WCR stands at D2, 60,358.00.
For Lower River Region (LRR), the Assembly heard the total revenue collected from royalties is D413,850; confiscation of illegal forest products D240,200; court fines D16,900; permits and licenses D78,000, resulting to a total revenue of D748,950.
In Central River Region North (CRR/N), total revenue collected from royalties is D53,505; confiscation of illegal forest products totaled to D6,500; court fines are D114,200; permit and licenses D20,000, giving a total of D149,205, as per the minister’s statement.
Minister Dibba further informed that in CRR South, a total revenue from royalties is D278,010; confiscation of illegal forest products generated D55,000; while Court fines amount to D10,000, with no permits or licenses fees, thus giving a total of D343,010.
He gave the total revenue collected in Upper River Region (URR) from royalties as D225,75; confiscation of illegal forest products as D266,910; Court fines D36000; permits and licenses D139,500, resulting in grand total revenue of D667,485 in that region.
Citing North Bank Region (NBR), the Forestry Ministry chief told NAMs a total of D206,000 was collected as royalties; D176,96 from the confiscation of illegal forest products; D119,750 as court fines; and D15,000 from permits and licenses, resulting in a total of D517,718.
According the Environment and Natural Resources minister, the total revenue collected from the Technical Unit, in terms of royalties stands at D162,741, and total revenue collected from the purchase of tickets at the Bijilo Forest Part- D1,672,300; at Gambia Ports Authority (GPA), D4,434,600 was collected in terms of royalties.
Minister Dibba put on record that, total royalties collected in 2020 stands at D8,391,289, total revenue collected from confiscation of illegal forest product stands at D1,211,478, total revenue collected from court fines stands at D322,850 and total revenue collected from permits and licenses was D875,750.
“The total revenue collected for 2020 combined is D10,801,367,” MECCNAR’s Dibba revealed.
