Volodymyr Kistion: Coal industry reform seeks to increase the profitability of Ukrainian mines
The reform of
Ukraine's coal industry is vitally
necessary. We can increase coal
extraction up to 2 million tons.
The Government has its vision
of reforming the coal industry,
which is conceptually backed by miners and
trade unions of miners. This
was stated by Vice Prime
Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Kistion in the
course of the first meeting
of the interagency
working group on crisis management
in the coal
industry.
According to him,
the Concept for the reform
of the country's
coal industry by 2020 was developed
by joint efforts of the
public and trade unions. The
Concept stipulates for the transfer
of 33 state-run coal mines under
the supervision of the newly
established state enterprise - "National Coal Company" that should determine
which coal mines are most
cost effective as well as
in which it is important
to invest a financial resource for the modernization.
"Within a single
state-owned company it's easy to
solve administrative issues as well
as to transfer
equipment from unprofitable mines to other objects.
According to preliminary estimates, the formation of
such a company will enable the
state to economize the cost
of maintaining of unprofitable mines to the
tune of UAH 1.5 billion per year.
These funds can be allocated
to upgrade coal enterprises ", the Vice Prime
Minister stressed.
A clear vision
of the Cabinet
of Ministers of Ukraine concerning
the reform of Ukrainian mines
is also enshrined
in the draft
of the new
Energy Strategy of Ukraine until
2035, noted Volodymyr Kistion. It encapsulates
key state targets in the
coal sector, inter alia:
• optimization of
the structure of coal mining
and other state enterprises of the coal
industry, improvement of economic and
technical indicators of their activities
• development of
the necessary infrastructure to strengthen Ukraine's ability to provide
export-import operations with
coal products;
• the transition
to self-funding extraction with the reorientation
of state support for labor
protection and protection of the
environment;
• achievement of
the level of coal production,
which will provide energy consumers with predominantly fuel of national production.
«We have
set the task aimed to
improve the financial, economic and technological conditions of coal
mining enterprises, to create favorable
environment for attracting investments in the development
of the industry,
which is in burning need
for complete modernization, as well as to
solve the issues pertaining to the social
and ecology spheres in the
mining regions. We are committed
to make Ukrainian mines profitable. If we succeed,
in the short
term there won’t be unprofitable
coal mines», Volodymyr Kistion underscored.