Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Kyrgyzstan will enforce a state regulation on coal prices in the country, Trend Agency reported on November 4 quoting the Kyrgyz government.

The decree on application of the state regulation on coal prices in the Kyrgyz territory was signed by Prime Minister Joomart Otorbayev to monitor the prices in the market of production and sale of coal and to curb the growth of prices in the secondary market.

The document also envisages creation of a mechanism for state regulation of prices, which will be implemented in short terms.

The ultimate level of coal prices will be determined for each region of the country, which will provide the population with fuel at reasonable prices during the heating season of 2014-2015.

Also, it will be possible to reduce the number of intermediaries, and the level of costs unreasonably included in the price of coal.

Power outages in Kyrgyzstan with a 5.5 million population are reportedly frequent. Thus, ensuring Kyrgyzstan's energy security is one of the top priorities of the government. In winter, when the average temperature often falls below zero, Kyrgyzstan suffers from lack of power.

Earlier, Kyrgyzstan made a decision to cut off all kinds of heating for upcoming winter due to the electricity deficit in the country. The situation is complicated with the decision of Uzbekistan to halt gas supplies to the southern Kyrgyzstan.

Kyrgyz experts believe that Kyrgyzstan's energy problem will be resolved by using coal instead of gas in industry, heating and electricity production. The country has about 1.4 billion tons of coal in its deposits.