Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund, the prime minister of the Islamic Emirate, at a cabinet meeting ordered the Economic Commission to remove the obstacles for work at the Mes Aynak mine in Logar, and to review the contract for this mine.
“A fundamental solution must be sought to extract the Mes Aynak copper mine. So, the commission will carry out its work in the way that suits it,” said Bilal Karimi, the deputy spokesman for the Islamic Emirate.
Meanwhile, the Afghanistan Chamber of Industries and Mines said that disputes over the Mes Aynak copper contract should be resolved and the mining process should begin.
“A long time has passed with the Mes Aynak contract. It is time for the Mes Aynak mine issue to be settled with the Chinese company MCC. Disagreements existed in the past. Security, legal and technical issues. The issue of security has now been addressed, its legal and technical issues re-examined, and the mine should start operating in the national interest,” said Sakhi Ahmad Payman, the first deputy head of the Afghanistan Chamber of Industries and Mines.
One economist said that by extracting copper from the Mes Aynak mine, Afghanistan will earn about $240 million to $300 million a year.
“Through this project the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan will earn $800 million dollars and it will provide direct job opportunities for three to four thousand people and about thirty-five thousand indirect jobs,” said Seyar Qureshi, an economist.
In 2008, the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum signed the Mes Aynak Logar copper mine contract with the Chinese company MCC, in which the Chinese company had to invest more than two and a half billion dollars in the first phase of the project.
