prijava
SARAJEVO, September 10 (FENA) - Problems in the Zenica and Breza Coal Mines date back to 2009-2015 when no tax liability was paid, Minister of Energy, Mining and Industry of FBiH Nermin Džindić said today after meeting with representatives of miners.
Chronology of the problem was presented at yesterday's meeting of the Minister with the Director General of JP Elektroprivreda BiH Bajazit Jašarević, Director of the FBiH Tax Administration Šerif Isović and directors of the Breza and Zenica Coal Mines.
“Yesterday, within an hour, we managed to agree how to resolve issue of unblocking the Breza coal mine in order to continue functioning. I do not like the idea of bringing together issues of the Zenica and Breza coal mine. We have solved the problem of Breza coal mine, it should not be related to Zenica. Yesterday, the director of Elektroprivreda promised to find the funds through a loan, and it will be resolved by Friday,” Džindić reminded, adding that Zenica owes KM 141 million to the Tax Administration, while Breza's obligation is 88 million, which is half of the total debt mine.
As for Zenica, he said, there was no solution. Zenica coal mine could not get into debt because the mine spends 96 percent out of 100 percent of its revenue on salaries without taxes and contributions. The Gračanica mine, for example, spends 33 percent on wages.
“That's why the Tax Administration reacted to these two mines. The union's position at today's meeting is that they support the Tax Administration for blocking the accounts,” Džindić said.
As a comparison, he pointed out that one worker in Zenica annually produces 280 tons of coal, while in the Gračanica mine a worker produces 1,786 tons.
After today's meeting with representatives of the mines, after which the miners announced the strike on Friday and expressed dissatisfaction, Džindić read the conclusions, one of which was finding a solution in ten days.
Džindić announced that he will request an urgent procedure for a law on partial write-off of debt at a session of the FBiH Government on Thursday as it would help ease the recovery of old debts.
He requested the dismissal of the director of the Zenica mine, who has a salary of 4,500 KM, and has no suggestions on how to solve the problem. He recalled that he had no suggestion at yesterday's meeting.
Until the meeting ended, the miners stayed in front of the FBiH Government building in Sarajevo.
(FENA) A. B.
