President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has set a task to carry out full financial and personnel audit of state-owned coal enterprises shortly and to set up a coordination center for the transformation of the coal industry.
During his speech at the All-Ukrainian Meeting of Coal Industry Workers of Ukraine, the Head of State noted that the reform of this sphere had lasted for 15 years already, but nothing had changed.
According to him, over this time, state subsidies to the industry amounted to almost 75 billion hryvnias, but this did not lead to the creation of new production facilities and jobs. Instead, there was an increase in government debt to coal enterprises.
“It is a strange formula under which the state invests money in return for losses. We clearly understand who are the beneficiaries of this formula. And we are well aware of its components: corruption, inefficient governance, and more. The term “mines observers” must disappear together with the phenomenon itself,” the President emphasized.
He noted that one of the reasons for this situation in the coal industry was corruption at the mines, namely, procurement, production volume, salaries to thousands of people who were not only in the workplace, but also in the country.
“Instead of investing in the safety of miners, upgrading and paying wages on time, someone is lining one’s pockets. I would even say "lined", because it must be stopped," the Head of State emphasized and set a task for Minister of Energy and Environmental Protection of Ukraine Oleksiy Orzhel to conduct a full financial and personnel audit of coal enterprises as soon as possible. The Minister should publicly report on the results of this audit and submit them to the law enforcement bodies.
The Government also has the task of creating a coordinating center for the transformation of the coal industry headed by Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine Denys Shmygal. "The problems of further development of the industry should be addressed systematically," Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted.
At the same time, the Head of State says that today Ukraine produces more coal than it can sell. Therefore, the task of the profile ministry is to determine the proper energy balance of the country and the share of heat generation in it.
“The coal market must be guaranteed. This market is Ukrainian thermal power plants. The state should protect Ukrainian coal. We need a long-term energy balance: we need to understand how much coal we need over the next 10 years. Management of the coal industry should be corruption-free, effective. It should invest in the production and development of workers,” the President stressed.
