.jpg)
KABUL (SW) – The contracts for mining of gold in Badakhshan and mining of copper in Sar-e-Pul have been awarded, an official said on Saturday.
Abdul Qadir Motafi, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, announced at a news conference in Kabul that Badakhshan gold mining contract has been awarded to the ‘Turkish-Afghan Mining Company’ and the contract for the extraction of copper in Sar-e-Pul has been awarded to ‘Afghan Gold and Minerals’.
According to the spokesman, the contracts for these projects were signed yesterday in the presence of Narges Nahan, the interim minister for the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, and Homayoun Qayomi, the interim minister for the Ministry of Finance, in the United States.
A day before these contracts were signed, the Integrity Watch Afghanistan pronounced them "looting of mines and an international conspiracy". But, the spokesman for the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum said that the bidding process for the contracts of these two mines was legal and transparent.
According to reports, the Badkhans gold and the Sar-e-Pul copper mining contracts were previously sent to the Council of Ministers in 2014, after being finalized in 2013, but they were postponed when the National Unity Government came into being. Eventually, this draft was submitted to the Supreme Economic Council two years ago.
ENDS
