Press release from Ministry of Mines on the comments of Integrity Watch on Hajigak project

Ministry of Mines is making all efforts to implement Hajigak project in a manner that it brings in maximum economic benefits for the country and all round social development especially for the communities living near the mine area. Many of the comments of Integrity Watch on government efforts at Hajigak in its report are irresponsible and baseless. It is not in line with the good work being done by the government in this area. This will not only have a negative impact on the confidence of the prospective investors who are going to invest in mining sector in Afghanistan, will also affect the Afghan people who are the actual beneficiaries of these development projects. As far as security conditions are concerned, Hajigak is located in Bamiyan which is one of the most secure provinces in the country. The transition process has started from Bamiyan which itself is a testimony of the stable security conditions in the province and the level of control government has in the province. Therefore the assertions of Integrity Watch are negative, baseless and provocative.

Further, Ministry of Mines is appropriately applying the lessons learnt from Aynak project and is working on regularization and publication of Inter-ministerial Commission activities, working with civil society organizations, establishment of social protection office and regular social assessments through socio economic surveys of Aynak operations in Logar. Ministry has already carried out preliminary socio economic survey of the communities in the Hajigak area to assess the social impact of the project.

Further Ministry has drafted social policy guidelines in consultation with all stakeholders including CSOs to deal with issues of community development in all mining projects including Hajigak. An appropriate strategy for the community consultation and development will also be developed for Hajigak much before the project starts. This will also include strategies for employment generation, alternate income generation and vocational training for the local communities to enable them to earn decent livelihood after the mining project comes up in the area.

The issues regarding warlords and investors as war profiteers are generalized with no specific indications. These generalizations may not be helpful in addressing issues of the proposed Hajigak mine development.

Ministry staff is rapidly acquiring the technical, financial and legal skills required to ensure transparent and efficient implementation of mine tenders in a timely way. As is the case in mine tenders throughout the world, Government has hired an outside technical expertise to prepare, issue and implement tender process to ensure a necessary level of technical excellence, objectivity and transparency that the Ministry of Mines will continue to seek as Ministry staff is in the process of building its market tendering skills.

Ministry is in the process of large scale restructuring in the institutional arrangements and staffing at Ministry, provinces and other government agencies since last year. Ministry is committed to a drastically changed mine sector culture that promotes market and transparent operations. There are presently more than 400 mine contracts and few regulations in implementation in the ministry. Ministry staff has significantly improved its capacity to monitor mine activities. For large scale operations such as Hajigak, a special contract monitoring team is in place (as is the case with Aynak). To wait until full capacity must be weighed against opportunity cost toward the timely development of this reserve. Ministry capacity is raised with each mine development and investors are ready to invest. In addition, Ministry has established the Aynak office to support better contract management and facilitate liaison with a host of stakeholders. It will use the same approach with all other projects of national importance, including Hajigak. Further Ministry is planning resource corridors to integrate plans for exploitation of mineral deposits with road and rail development for broader economic development in these areas. Therefore, Ministry of Mines is not leaving any stone unturned to make these big national projects like Hajigak a great success.