Development of the Coal Industry in Kyrgyzstan: Historical Experience, Current State, and Ways Out of the Crisis

The article examines the historical aspects, state, main problems and prospects for the development of the coal industry in Kyrgyzstan. Printed and electronic publications, materials of the Central State Archive of the Kyrgyz Republic are used as sources. The main aim is to carry out a historical analysis of the development of the coal industry in Kyrgyzstan and, using the example of historical experience and current technologies, to offer recommendations for improving the development of the coal industry in the republic. The article notes that Kyrgyzstan possesses significant coal reserves. With the annexation of the Kyrgyz lands to the Russian Empire, the industry received Russian and European investments and began the first steps of the development. With the advent of Soviet power, production volumes increased and the development of new fields was a concomitant factor. The years of the Great Patriotic War did not affect the rate of coal production. Plants and factories evacuated from the European part of Russia and Ukraine to Kyrgyzstan later served as a detonating factor in the industrial approach to coal mining. The best indicators of coal production volumes and the development of deposits, reflected in the multiplier effect on the growth of the number of enterprises, social facilities, living conditions, are the 1960s-1970s, before the start of perestroika. During the years of perestroika and the period after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the coal industry in Kyrgyzstan saw a decline in its development. Having become independent, the republic was unable to cope with the problems. The unprofitability of coal enterprises, their disintegration into small joint-stock companies, staff reduction, accidents at mines and their flooding, the outflow of qualified specialists, the lack of adequate funding, the obsolescence of equipment, the lack of depreciation, the loss of value of coal wages destroyed the industry. The import of Kazakh coal continued. In order to support and develop the coal sector and the economy of Kyrgyzstan, it is proposed to use historical experience. To do this, it is necessary to restore state control and proper financing on an ongoing basis, restore and increase the volume of coal production, and modernize it. It is necessary to use the experience of the coal mining countries of the EAEU (Russia, Kazakhstan), the labor of qualified specialists; to attract investments; to create joint ventures with state participation providing tax holidays. It is necessary to set and solve ambitious tasks. It is recommended to build thermal power plants on large coal deposits where open-pit coal mining can be carried out, which can significantly relieve hydroelectric power plants by generating additional volumes of electricity, and introduce technologies for converting coal into gas and liquid fuel, using world experience.

Keywords

Authors

References