“Downgrading of the State Committee for Industry, Energy and Subsoil Use of Kyrgyzstan to an agency will bury the mining industry,” Chairman of the Mining and Metallurgical Trade Union Eldar Tadzhibaev declared.
According to him, proposals on creation of an independent Ministry of Energy and the restoration of the State Agency for Geology and Mineral Resources of the Kyrgyz Republic are increasingly heard. He is confident that, taking into account the peculiarities of managing the energy sector, creation of a separate ministry to regulate this sphere is a reasonable step.
But downgrading of the state body from the state committee to an agency is an extremely wrong and rash proposal that could worsen the situation in the industry.
“The mining industry accounts for 50% of industrial output and 50% of the country’s exports, more than 30% of tax revenues. Its successful operation should be ensured by a relevant government body with the functions of developing a regulatory framework governing activities in this area, overseeing industrial safety, protection of environment, training of personnel for industry branches,” Eldar Tadzhibaev said.
The Chairman of the Mining and Metallurgical Trade Union stressed that, thanks to the establishment of the State Committee for Industry, Energy and Subsoil Use in 2016, it was possible to reform the management system of the industry. The legislation on subsoil and licensing was improved, a number of contests and auctions were held, billions of soms replenished state and local budgets, and work to eradicate corruption schemes and manifestations began.
“Not all problems and issues have been resolved, but this is a matter of time. And a return to the agency level will again revive old problems and aggravate the situation in the industry. The state committee should be divided into two components. The energy sector should be separated into a department, and the industrial sector should be granted a status of a ministry. The name of the department should stipulate determining extraction and development of raw materials and materials that ensure the future activities of the processing enterprises as priority,” Eldar Tadzhibaev summed up. (24.kg/Ukrainian metal)