KABUL (SW) – The Ministry of Mines and Petroleum secured AFN 17.48 billion worth of revenue in the past year, said officials on Sunday.
This was stated by the officials of the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum in a meeting they held to present the work report of the Ministry for the past year at the Government Information and Media Center in Kabul.
According to the statistics provided by the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, the income of this ministry has increased by 583% compared to the past years. Zia-ul-Rahman Aryobi, Deputy Minister of Policy and Planning of the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, said: “Due to good management, the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum has collected nearly 17.5 billion afghani in a transparent manner through the banking system last year.”
According to the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, in the last year in total, the work of extracting more than 70 small mines across the country was entrusted to the contract through tendering, and similarly, the work of extracting large mines such as coal mines in Samangan, Sar-e-Pul and Baghlan and other projects continued.
Among these, coal mining has had the most important contribution in increasing the income of the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum last year, which was extracted and exported abroad in an unprecedented manner.
Indiscriminate extraction of coal has also raised concerns about the increase in its waste. Officials in the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, while confirming the existence of waste did not specify its amount.
Mohammad Rasul Aqab, head of the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum Revenue, said: “There was definitely some waste, but in the next year’s policy, procedures will be prepared and some conditions will be established in order to prevent waste.”
On the other hand, the officials in the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum assured the commitment of this ministry to prevent smuggling and illegal extraction of Afghanistan’s mines. Humayun Afghan, the spokesman of the ministry, said: “In order to prevent illegal mining, a committee called the Mines Protection Committee has been established within the framework of the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum to protect the mines well.”
ENDS
