Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 16
By Fikret Dolukhanov – Trend:
In January-September 2018, Uzbekistan increased production of coal-series kaolin by 52 percent to 254,200 tons, Uzbekcoal state company told Trend on Nov. 16.
Nevertheless, the increased production was still not enough to reach the planned level of 395,000 tons.
The volume of kaolin supplies, on the other hand, decreased. During the reporting period, 170,300 tons of kaolin was sold, which is 3.1 percent less compared to the same period in 2017 and 56.9 percent less than the planned level of 395,000 tons.
The volume of coal production decreased again. In January-September 2018, the country produced 2.91 million tons of coal, which is 4.2 percent less than the same period last year and 14 percent less than the planned level of 3.38 million tons. Coal sales, on the contrary, increased by 5.4 percent to 3.35 million tons, which was not enough to achieve the planned level of 3.77 million tons.
Earlier, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev approved a program for the development and modernization of coal industry for 2017-2021. He also noted major shortcomings revealed in the work of the Uzbekcoal company, which is a state monopolist in the sphere.
The main shortcomings were inefficient operation of existing equipment, weak manufacturing discipline, serious lagging in modernization of capacities and implementation of a number of investment projects. Two weeks later, the Uzbek president handed over the coal industry from Uzbekcoal to the Uzbekistan Railways.
It was reported the other day that the Russian Progress Gor Tech company can receive in trust the shares of Uzbekcoal.
The draft presidential decree on measures to improve the effectiveness of Uzbekcoal has been published on the portal for discussion of draft legal and regulatory documents.
The Uzbekistan Railways will transfer 45 percent of shares in the authorized capital of Uzbekugol to the Russian Progress Gor Tech company for the period of three years, the decree says. At the same time, the agreement on trust management can be extended in case of reaching the parameters of the business plan.
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