Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr 17
By Fakhri Vakilov – Trend:
Uzbekistan reduced coal production by almost 25 percent in the first quarter of 2019, Trend reports with reference to State Statistics Committee of Uzbekistan.
Official statistics recorded that in January-March 2019, 809,000 tons of solid fuel were produced in the country (1,087,000 tons in the same period of 2018).
As previously reported, Uzbekugol was transferred to Uzbekistan Railways by a presidential decree in July 2017. In December 2018, a block of shares of the Uzbekistan Railways in the authorized capital of Uzbekugol in the amount of 45 percent was transferred by a governmental decree into the trust management of Progress GorTech LLC, a Russian company. To manage the coal enterprise, Progress Gor Tech creates a subsidiary in Uzbekistan.
A year and a half ago, the head of the state noted serious shortcomings revealed in the work of the Uzbekugol company, which is a state monopolist in this sphere. The main ones are inefficient operation of the existing equipment, weak production discipline, and a serious lag in the modernization of facilities and implementation of investment projects.
The main objectives and activities of JSC "Uzbekugol" within the structure of the Uzbekistan Railways are defined as follows:
- development of coal deposits, expansion and rational use of the resources, development and modernization of coal industry enterprises;
- support and stimulation of scientific research aimed at the design and introduction of innovative technologies, development of new competitive products, reducing energy and resource-intensive products;
- further deepening the level of localization of production, expanding inter-sectorial industrial cooperation based on the priority use of domestic raw materials, ensuring import substitution;
- conducting an active investment policy, attracting direct foreign investments to the industry, strengthening the role of shareholders in strategic management of the joint-stock company, improving project works;
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