Session to discuss efficient use of local fuel and energy resources

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There is a need to make a wider use of local fuel and energy resources, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko said at the session held on 19 August to discuss the efficient use of these resources.

“It is bad that huge reserves of bioresources which could be used as fuel are wasted in Belarus. Therefore, today it is very important to step up efforts to use local resources to reduce dependency on imports and cut the prime cost of products,” the President said.

According to the head of state, every year this topic becomes more and more important in terms of Belarus’ dependence on imported energy resources.

Some time ago the President passed a number of resolutions to promote the use of local fuels. He visited a number of enterprises, and numerous pilot projects were implemented. “Today’s session is a crucial event because we will listen to the report on our achievements in this field, on the progress in the fulfillment of the resolutions and plans by the government and local authorities,” the head of state remarked. “The meeting will focus on the efficient economic management and cost improvement.”

The President stressed that a lot has been already done in this area. For example, more than 2 billion cubic meters of gas which had been annually imported to Belarus were replaced by local fuels. “But this is only one tenth of the import of gas. We buy more than 20 billion cubic meters. The country spends about $3 billion on it every year. I am convinced that we can and must do our best to reduce these expenses,” he said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko said that he is aware of the facts of the irrational use of the existing power-generating units and weak projects. “It often happens because of the uncoordinated efforts of agencies, local authorities, and the government,” the head of state said.

The President asked a number of questions at the session. In particular, he wanted to know about the reasons for the inefficient use of Belarusian natural resources, the ways of stepping up efforts in this field and decision that will be needed for it, the efforts to balance the planned increase in the consumption of local fuel and energy resources and the additional amount of energy which will be produced by the Belarusian nuclear power plant.

“A systematic and economically viable approach is needed to solve all issues connected with the use of local fuels. The period when we were making decisions and organizing this work is over. Today we need to objectively analyze the situation, revise our plans and decisions or step up efforts to solve these issues,” Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed.

At the end of the meeting the instructions were given to revisit the government’s energy conservation program for 2016-2020 and introduce amendments to it if necessary. This is, first of all, important given the current construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant and the amount of electricity it will generate. Instructions were also given to remedy shortcomings at some facilities.