Mazhilis deputy Nikita Shatalov told about the condition in which the Temirtau Qarmet plant was transferred to the new investor, Tengrinews.kz reports .
According to Shatalov, last week deputies visited the Temirtau plant.
“After going down into the mine, inspecting the metallurgical complex and talking with enterprise employees, I got a holistic impression of the state in which the asset was transferred to the Kazakh investor. I think if there had been no deal, then next year we would have seen a real tragedy – either there would have been a serious accident at the plant, or the thermal power plant would have stopped, leaving part of Temirtau without energy. Now this is obvious,” the deputy said in his Telegram channel .
According to him, the condition is close to catastrophic. Of the eight mines remaining at the moment (at the time of 1995 there were 15 of them), only two were more or less working, but Saransk and Abayskaya gradually returned to life, new longwalls are being launched there. There was not enough coal for the plant; due to lack of investment and severe accidents, the plans were not implemented, Shatalov noted.
“At the plant, the heat and power supply infrastructure and coke oven batteries are in a difficult state; investments in safety are required. Before leaving, Mittal’s group left neither reserves of ferroalloys, nor coke necessary for steel smelting, nor money in the accounts. The asset was returned in ruins and without reserves needed for production.
The company finally began to receive raw materials (ore, pellets, coke). Deliveries are now made directly – without intermediaries. For example, previously intermediaries were involved in gas supplies from Atyrau. There is an important nuance: there is not enough scrap metal for the plant, since only monopolists have it, and they are starting to raise the price for Qarmet as for a large buyer who is in great need of this particular product. The situation is being resolved through negotiations, but a systematic approach is needed for the stable operation of enterprises,” added Nikita Shatalov.
The workers, he said, have finally calmed down: they have been paid wages, and all debts to the state for social payments have been repaid.
“There were doubts about the collective agreement, which remains one of the best in the country in terms of social guarantees, but it continues to be in force, and this year it will go through an update with the participation of workers and trade unions. We, as deputies, I think, will participate as observers, in order to so that the process takes place openly.
The miners expressed their dissatisfaction because in recent years the former investor seemed to have written them off and left them on the margins. Only those assets that brought large profits were taken into account. The company assured me that all employees would be in equal conditions – not only miners, but also employees of Energougol, a mine in Kostanay, and a pipe-rolling plant in Aktau. The workers are still waiting for a new uniform; the name Arcelor is something they don’t want to see or pronounce in the Karaganda region,” the deputy noted.
