Uzbekistan, Tashkent, Dec.10 / Trend D.Azizov /
Uzbekistan plans to decrease the cost of production in business associations and industrial plants by an average of 11.2 percent in 2013.
According to the decree of the Cabinet of Ministers 'On additional measures to reduce production costs in industrial field," reduction of production costs will be achieved by decreasing energy consumption and improving energy efficiency of production, streamlining manufacturing processes and material consumption rate of natural resources, introduction of information and communication technologies, increase of productivity and optimizing the number of managerial staff.
The heads of ministries, departments and business associations are instructed to develop targeted programs for reducing production costs in the companies included in their agencies.
The Commission on fuel and energy resources (FER) under the Cabinet of Ministers is entrusted to develop a timetable for holding energy audits in 2013-2014 to assess the effectiveness of using fuel and energy resources.
Measures of financial incentives or personal liability with regards to the directors of companies will be applied according to quarterly progress monitoring of measures to reduce production costs
In addition, the government has amended the procedure for the formation of the localization program. According to the previously established order, the program may include only projects providing a localization level of no less than 30 percent.
Projects with localization level of less than 30 percent can be included in the project as an exception by the decision of a special interdepartmental commission with a condition that the company will bring the localization to at least 30 percent within 12 months. Lowering the level of localization was not disallowed.
The current resolution of the Uzbek Government states that localization reductions will not be considered violations if they occur as a result of lower production costs.
