Kyrgyz officials think how to reduce price of local coal

Officials in Kyrgyzstan wondered how to reduce the price of local coal. The State Committee of Industry, Energy and Subsoil Use reported.

Currently, four companies in two shifts are working at an open pit in Kara-Keche. Every day 4,500-5,000 tons of coal are mined. There is a checkpoint guarded by the police at the entrance. The driver receives the sequence number, then the truck is weighed after loading on the electronic scales, and then, one more time, near the checkpoint.

«The main task is to provide Kyrgyzstan with domestic coal. Problems on the Kyrgyz-Kazakh border, when for almost two months we did not receive coal from a neighboring country, showed that we can safely live without imported fuel. The population was provided with it by local coal miners. There was no coal deficit, although speculative price growth was observed for a while,» the head of the State Committee Ulan Ryskulov said.

According to him, it is necessary to reduce the cost of local coal. The cost of Kazakh coal is about $ 30 per ton, as it is directly delivered by rail. The cost of Kara-Keche coal is approaching $ 50, because it is transported by trucks. The construction of China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway will help to reduce the price of fuel, the committee believes.