Donbass Fuel-Energy Company Ltd. suggested different options for the privatization of the integral property set of the state-run coal mining company Dobropolyeugol to the Ministry of Coal, DTEK’s press service informed UNIAN.

According to the information, DTEK is ready to undertake investment obligations on upgrading the equipment, improving safety as well as timely payment of salaries and extension of social benefits to the employees of the state-run enterprise Dobropolyeugol.

‘DTEK lets the Coal Ministry select an optimal form of cooperation with the state enterprise Dobropolyeugol. For its part, DTEK may be interested both in the privatization of the integral property set and in a lease, joint operations or a concession’, says the statement.

As the Company adds, the interest of DTEK in coal mining assets is related to the necessity of supplying the power plants of Vostokenergo Ltd. with fuel.

At the same time, when giving his comments to UNIAN on the position of the Ministry of Coal with regard to the propositions of DTEK, Aleksandr GOROBETS, the Press Secretary of the Ministry of Coal, said that as of today, there were no legal mechanisms for the privatization of state-owned coal mining companies or entering into joint operation agreements with would-be investors.

He indicated that next week the Ministry of Coal hoped to complete a procedure for the agreement of a new wording of the draft law ‘On Peculiarities of the Privatization of State-Owned Coal Mining Companies’ and submit it for consideration by the respective governmental committee.

‘After approval, the draft law will be submitted to the Verkhovna Rada’, explained the Press Secretary.

The General Director of the SE Dobropolyeugol, Vladimir PANIBRATCHENKO, was unavailable for comment today.

UNIAN reference
The state enterprise Dobropolyeugol includes six mines with commercial coal reserves of 470m tons and a production capacity of 5.15m tons per year. Furthermore, it includes ancillary units: sales, repair units and 2 mine construction divisions.

In the middle of October 2007, the Economic Court of Donetsk Region satisfied the claim of ARS CJSC to SE Dobropolyeugol and recognized the enterprise’s debt to the claimant to an amount of UAH183.3m, obliging the enterprise to repay it. According to the mass media, ARS CJSC, run by a former assistant of the Ukrainian businessman, Rinat AKHMETOV, is connected to the SCM Group.


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