Photo from UNIAN
Chairman of the Donetsk regional military and civil administration Pavlo Zhebrivskiy supports the merger of all coal mines in the area into a single coal company, the administration's press service reported referring to Zhebrivskiy's statement at a meeting with activists of the Trade Union of Metallurgy and Mining Industry Workers of Ukraine.
The problem in the industry, according to the chairman, is that many of the coal extracting facilities in Donbas are monopolized, with processing plants and coal fields being managed by private entities.
"In fact, a lot of money is being embezzled. That is why Donetsk military and civil administration has set an ambitious goal," Zhebrivskiy said.
According to him, the task is to return coal fields and central processing plants under state control, and to merge them into a new single company.
"We will decide collectively how this is going to happen. One worker from each mine will be represented in an ad hoc group [to be created to address the issue]. We will find a comprehensive solution to resolve possible disputes," Zhebrivskiy said.
At this, he stressed the state is not able to continuously subsidize the coal industry.
The establishment of the single coal company is a long-term process. Zhebrivskiy noted the regional authorities and the working group should focus on the development of the proposals to be agreed with the trade unions, after which the final results would be presented to the relevant ministries, the government and the president.
"I am keenly aware that as long as state-owned coal companies continue their operations, it will be a stabilizing factor in the energy market of Ukraine. In case of corporatization, the mines will not be given to one entity for management," Zhebrivskiy stressed.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the State Statistics Service of Ukraine reported that coal production in Ukraine increased in September 2015 by 14.9% year-over-year to 2.6 million tonnes. January through September 2015, coal production shrank by 45.7% as compared to the same period last year, to 20.4 million tonnes.