KABUL: The Afghan government has signed over 80 mining contracts with the private sector in a bid to boost the extraction of mines and prevent illegal extraction of the mining.
Officials in the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum told reporters in Kabul on Tuesday that the government is more focused on transparency when the contracts were signed.
Mohiuddin Noori, a spokesman for the Ministry of Mines and Petoleum, said the government has concluded 84 agreements since the beginning of the new solar year.
He said the contracts have been signed on key conditions to include transparency as per the new terms and conditions, control and supervision of the contracts, generation of revenue by the contracts for the private sector and the government, and the feasibility to implement the contracts in the region.
Noori further added that the government has stepped up efforts to prevent the illegal mining with the help of the security institutions.
This comes as reports emerged earlier suggesting that the illegal extraction of mines in the country specifically the Lapis Lazuli mining pours millions of dollars to the militant groups in the country.
The mineral resources in the mountains of Afghanistan have been estimated to be around $1 trillion to $3 trillion which include world-famous lapis lazuli, a deep blue, semi-precious stone that has been mined in northern Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province for thousands of years.
