Interfax
October 7

Uzbekistan is preparing to privatize its gas utilities in a bid to speed up the creation of a market environment in the gas sector and make consumers pay their bills.

The government has given the state property committee two months to draft a privatization program that is also designed to clamp down on the theft of gas, which is rife in Uzbekistan, a government spokesman told Interfax.

The program, which calls for privatization in stages, would streamline the bureaucracy at the gas utilities and make a total of 864 management personnel redundant.

Local inspectorates will be set up to monitor the payment of gas bills. All consumers except households will be required to make advance payments of 15% of their estimated monthly gas consumption as early as November 1 this year. Wholesale consumers who do not do this or who do not pay for the full amount of gas they actually receive on time will be cut off.

Direct contracts will be signed with small businesses, who will be able to use an unlimited volume of gas after January 1, 2004.

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