Modernization of mining companies should meet European environmental standards, says Yanukovych
The modernization of the mining and metallurgical enterprises of Ukraine should be carried out in compliance with European environmental standards, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has said.
"It is of great importance to us that the modernization of the mining and metallurgical complex should be done in such a way that we can bring our metallurgical plants in line with European environmental standards," the president said on Thursday during a ceremony marking the launch of the first sintering plant with high efficiency gas cleaning at Zaporizhstal metallurgical mill, which is part of the Metinvest Group.
The president said this was a landmark event not only for the plant, but for the entire region, as the launch of the new equipment will improve the ecological situation in the region, through cutting harmful emissions into the atmosphere by 10%.
Yanukovych said that the decision to begin the implementation of the program of environmental rehabilitation of the region was made back in 2006 together with the management of the plant and its former owners, but by and large, the real work began only in 2012 with the arrival of the new owners.
"I have very high hopes that by the end of this year we will put into operation another sintering plant," he said.
The president also said that considerable investment resources were spent on the launch of the new equipment, which will reduce the costs of similar installations that are to be put into operation next.
"While around UAH 240 million was spent on this plant, the next [stage] will cost around UAH 80 million," the president said.
In turn, Ukrainian businessman Rinat Akhmetov, the owner of the System Capital Management (SCM), which includes Metinvest Holding, Rinat Akhmetov has said that their ambitions were to make Zaporizhstal one of the best plants in Eastern Europe."
He stressed that despite the crisis on the global steel markets, the metallurgical companies' owners will focus on upgrading their enterprises. "I believe that we will build a strong economy. And I believe that there will be clean air in Zaporizhia. All the enterprises, their employees, the city, the region and the country will benefit from this," Akhmetov said.
