Private companies may clear Chechnya and Ingushetia of landmines

The Defense Ministry is requesting the Russian government to pay private companies over 2 billion rubles to pay private mine-sweepers to remove landmines in Chechnya and Ingushetia, Izvestia reports.

Lider, a special group of the Russian Ministry for Emergencies, was responsible for clearing mines until March 2012. Only 50 hectares out of over 14,000 hectares were cleared in Chechnya. The military started removing mines in March 2012. Only 1833.6 hectares may be cleared in 4 years, which is only 12% of all the land in need of mine-sweeping. It will cost 346 million rubles and another billion in the following 3 years.

88% of the remaining land will be cleared by private companies. The Defense Ministry has requested the Finance Ministry to grant about 1.5 billion rubles.

Ingushetia has 122 landmine specialists operating. They will clear the tourism zone of the Sunzhensky District. The military will need 500 million rubles.

Yelena Panfilova, Director of the Center for Anti-Corruption Studies, said that hiring private companies to clear landmines is common practice.

Kirill Kabanov, Chairman of the National Anti-Corruption Committee, said that the unclear structure of the Defense Ministry provokes violations during tenders.

Experts fear that the money would be wasted with no real mine-sweeping done. The criteria for tender sums are unclear too.