Starting from yesterday, the RA Ministries and bodies adjacent to the government began to present reports. By making it a little bit ironic, we may say, that this process is similar to student exam sessions. The braver ones go to the exam room sooner, the others’ hearts are pounding and they start to ask the one who has already taken the test questions. The practical test taker begins to answer the questions, talks about his impressions, and gives practical advice.
In this case, the examiner is Prime Minister, Andranik Margaryan. Journalists were the ones asking questions, and the RA Minister of Transportation and Communications, Andranik Manukyan, was the “pioneer” who received a “fair” grade (let’s mention that unlike the previous year, ministries are now graded based on how they function; the evaluations are estimated as “poor,” “fair,” and “good”).
We still have a lot to do
The RA Minister of Transport and Communications, Andranik Manukyan, began his report by presenting the numeric indexes of the enterprises of the system. During 2005 the enterprises operating in the system, have received in total 18 billion 24 million AMD of income. Furthermore, only the income of the “Armenian Railways” JSC amounted to nearly 9 billion 558 million AMD. Compared to 2004, in 2005 the income of the mentioned enterprises increased by 86.5% and amounted to 2 billion 286 million AMD. These enterprises “enriched” the state budget paying taxes in the amount of 2 billion AMD. According to the Minister, positive changes have been made in railway transportation, in particular, the number of exports increased by 22.7% during the year. The volume of the inner-republic railway transportation has increased, which according to A. Manukyan, is mainly rewarded by the decrease of the volume of transportation from the gold factory of Ararat. The Minister also mentioned the construction of the Kars-Akhalkalak railway. “We do our best to prove that these railways will isolate Armenia. First we need to re-operate the Kars-Gyumri railway and only after that, if it’s not enough for us, we may start speaking about the construction of the Kars-Ahalkalak railway,” said Mr. Manukyan. According to him, “There can be no discussion regarding the privatization of the ‘Armenian Railways’ because there is a state attitude according to which, the railway infrastructure must be under state control.”
The same cannot be said about the communications sector. The greatest progress of the latter, according to the Minister, was depriving “Armentel” of its monopoly license. “We promised that the fees of ‘Armentel’ would not rise and it happened that way of course due to many efforts, and slight compromises,” said A. Manukyan. While speaking about the quality of the internet, he mentioned that, this sector would look much better if there was no monopoly. By the way, the Minister did not lose the chance to praise the quality of connection provided by “Viva Cell.” The reason why the annual work of the Ministry of Transport and Communications was estimated “fair” instead of “good” is that the construction of the Meghri-Kapan highway is delayed until October of the current year. Besides that, there is a lot to do in the railway system. In particular, 95% of the cars that run on engine of the “Armenian Railways” are worn-out. At any rate, according to A. Manukyan, the Prime Minister mentioned the above mentioned shortcomings.
The Prime Minister is pleased by the Ministry of Energy
In contrast to A. Manukyan, the RA Minister of Energy Armen Movsisyan, has received a “good” grade by the Prime Minister (according to students standards “excellent”). Mr. Movsisyan mentioned that the Ministry has fulfilled all its tasks during 2005, 6316.5 million kilowatt/hours of electrical power was produced in the republic, which is 4.5% more compared to 2004. Due to gasification, the number of people who use natural gas increased by 91.988, which amounted to 364.115. According to the report, great progress was registered in the programs of technical modernization and development of the energy system. At the end of the year, due to the technical support of Iran, the first wind station with a capacity of 2.6 mega-watts was built and exploited in Pushkin mountain pass. Smaller wind stations are also being built. According to Mr. Movsisyan, in the past, these stations were producing only 60 million kilowatts of electrical power. This index now amounts to 230 million. It is planned to make the level of electrical power production of wind stations go up to 500 million kilowatts, which amounts to 10% of society’s demand.
In 2006, the main issues of the energy sector are the focus on the Iran-Armenian gas pipeline. At the end of 2007, the second stage of the reconstruction of Jermuk-Ararat segment will be over, which will enable the annual importation of 2 billion 8 million cubic meters of gas.
The Minister assured that by 2007, the reconstruction of the 5th block of Hrazadan hydro-electrical station will be completed. There was also an inevitable question about the Russian gas. The answer was the same, “negotiations are still going on.” A. Margaryan mentioned that they still have resources to make the gas price at least a little bit more affordable for the population. If the gas price becomes $110, the electrical power will increase by nearly 3-4 AMD.
Besides, I received a medal
The State Customs Committee also received a good grade. The journalists were interested in how the estimations of the Prime Minister and the President correspond in relationship to this body, since Mr. Kocharyan has recently criticized this committee. “Honestly I am surprised at such criticism. I can only say, if the President awards a medal to the head of the body it means he is satisfied with his work,” said the head of the SCC, A. Avetisyan. According to the report, during 2005 it was planned to receive 140 billion 400 million AMD from the customs bodies. This index was 564 million AMD more or 0.4% more compared to 2004. To the question, “How much is the amount of the smuggled goods in Armenia?” A. Avetisyan, answered, “If we knew what the amount of smuggled goods is in Armenia we would know who the smugglers are and would prevent it. The least I can say is that we don’t have any smuggling of wheat, sugar cane, etc.”