DUSHANBE, July 20, 2010, Asia-Plus -- Following an application by the Committee for Environmental Protection, the High Economic Court of Tajikistan has obligated two Tajik-Chinese joint ventures (brickworks) – Tojikiston Jun and Tien Tsai – to pay a total of more than 1.6 million somoni for illegal activities, Khursandmurod Zikirov, the head of the Committee for Environmental Protection, told journalists in Dushanbe on July 19.

According to him, the brickworks used land resources illegally, without appropriate licenses from the Ministry of Energy and Industries (MoI).

“Illegal activities of the enterprises has caused considerable damage – damage cased by Tojikiston Jun has been estimated at more than 1.3 million and damage caused by Tie Tsai has been estimated at some 300,000 somoni,” Zikirov said.

He added that 715 protocols for non-compliance with the country’s environmental protection legislation for a total amount of 458,700 somoni have been drawn over the report period.