«Urgent measures are needed to reform the system of state administration in the mining industry,» Eldar Tadzhibaev, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Mining and Metallurgical Trade Union, told reporters.
According to him, the trade union, the Association of Subsoil Users and other business associations receive requests from subsoil users in connection with the serious problems they face in their work. The terms of conducting ecological expertise are regularly delayed, in some cases — up to 10 months. But the set term for this procedure is not more than three months. At the same time, negative conclusions are unreasonably made.
There are bureaucracy and additional unreasonable requirements when accepting and receiving documents, submitting reports, in the process of adjusting and supplementing projects.
Eldar Tadzhibaev also noted that bankruptcy proceedings had been initiated against Kara-Balta Mining Plant OJSC. At the same time, by the decree of President Sadyr Japarov, it was the OJSC that was granted the exclusive right to process gold ore and gold concentrate mined and produced in the country. The bankruptcy procedure is a serious obstacle to the implementation of the decree.
«Moreover, it is obvious that until May 2023 it is unrealistic to build and launch production facilities that allow processing all types of gold ores and concentrates. It is necessary to cancel the decree or prolong the period of its entry into force and create the necessary conditions for the construction of the relevant gold recovery factories. This situation has developed as a result of inefficient state management of the industry, the lack of coordination in the work of state bodies,» the head of the Mining and Metallurgical Trade Union believes.
To date, the Ministry of Natural Resources, Ecology and Technical Supervision of the Kyrgyz Republic has the right to develop a regulatory framework governing activities in the mining sector, determine subsoil use policy, resolve licensing issues, oversee industrial safety and protect the environment. He believes that the department needs to take urgent measures to improve the situation in the industry, to work with subsoil users.
«Regulatory legal acts regulating the activities of subsoil users must be adopted taking into account the opinion of experts only after discussion and agreement with representatives of the industry,» Eldar Tadzhibaev concluded.
