Marble factory owners are stopping operations as many of them are incurring losses due to lack of raw materials.

AVA- According to the Marble Stone Association, there are 13 marble processing factories in Kabul, but none of them are operational due to lack of raw material.
The Association slammed the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum (MoMP) for its inability to support the marble sector.
“The Ministry of Mines does not have a policy in place in the last three years. It is all words but no action,” said Sarajuddin Kamali, the head of the association.
Meanwhile, the MoMP said they plan to award contracts for marble extraction to 10 companies. Their plan will go through the High Economic Council first, and then put out to tender after it is approved.
Once contracts are signed, companies will start extracting the marble to provide raw material for the processing factories.
There are over 150 marble factories in the country, with an investment total of USD 50mn in marble processing facilities.
According to the Marble Stone Association, only four marble extraction projects are active in the country and can only meet the raw material requirements for four processing factories.
The Association warned the government that the factories will shut down if their issue is not resolved.