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KABUL (SW): Ahmad Jawed Sadat, deputy director for policy at the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum (MoMP), has said work on relocating historic relics from the site of Mes Aynak copper mines in Logar would not allow extraction of the mineral for at least three years.
Ahmad Jawed Sadat and Abdul Rasul Bawari, minister for information and culture, Murad Ali Murad, director security affairs at the Ministry of Interior (MoI) were summoned by the Wolesi Jirga (lower house) to brief the house about the state of affairs at the Mes Aynak. Sadat informed the house that the plan chalked out by the MoMP to secure and relocate the historic relics would make it possible at least after three years to extract the copper. He criticized that the reviewing of Mes Aynak mining contract in every five years is a fundamental problem in this scenario. He said the Chinese side is now asking for some 57 amendments including changes in the royalty fee.
The interim minister for the MoIC Abdul Rasol Bawari informed the house the government has been relocating historic relics from the site for the past six months. He added this all is going on in line with a three-year plan.
On his term, Murad Ali Murad informed the house that the Ministry of Interior (MoI) has deployed 1700 men to secure the Mes Aynak.
The Mes Aynak site in Logar’s Mohammad Agha district has one of the biggest copper reserves in the world. Afghanistan inked a five-year deal worth $ 2.9 billion with the Chinese state-owned firm MCC.
ENDS
