It’ s hard to say whether the Armenian authorities would reconstruct the Argavand highway leading to Yerevan from the “Zvartnots” airport, the Isakov avenue and the boulevards in-between Teryan street and Azatutyan avenue if French President Jacques Chirac didn’t make the official visit to Armenia this year.
It’s possible. Perhaps these streets would be reconstructed even before the visit of Jacques Chirac, but it’s hard to believe that because they only reconstructed the road by which the French President was supposed to pass.
But before the remodeling of the Isakov and Teryan streets, the Komitas and Tigran the Great streets were destructed two months before the visit and have stayed like that ever since. The reconstruction of that street was supposed to be financed by the “Linsie” fund. It’s too bad that Jacques Chirac didn’t get to pass by those streets. Perhaps that could serve as a reason for them to asphalt the streets. It’s also too bad that the short route leading to the “Golden Palace” hotel passes by Teryan-Azatutyun. Meanwhile, besides state officials, foreign guests attending seminars and the French President, the residents of Yerevan also have the right to pass by those remodeled streets. But it seemed as though that also became a fantasy. It’s not hard to imagine what kinds of problems drivers face because of these destructed streets. The “168 Hours” semi-weekly edition keeps getting calls and complaints from residents, drivers and pedestrians of Yerevan, asking when the streets will be in good condition. We also pass by those streets and surely ask the same question. Do we have the right to know or not? About two months ago, as they were destructing the tram lines, citizens of Yerevan hoped that they would be able to ride smoothly on the streets. At the time, they announced on television that the “Linsie” fund was beginning its second stage of road construction. But today people are of the opinion that those streets were destructed because of the lines on the road, especially since deputy president of the “Linsie” fund Harut Sasunyan said during one of his interviews that “Armenia started some road construction on its own”. After that, it seems like nobody cares about fixing the roads. Fall is almost over and winter is on its way. It’s interesting-will the streets stay the same? It’s highly possible. It’s also possible that there are some issues for the delay of the job. But it was worth talking about that on the same television channels citizens heard announcements. We at the edition would also understand and take into consideration. However, now there is another opinion that the Armenian authorities started road construction to show that they are doing something, but can’t finish it due to lack of funding. It’s almost like they are forcing the “Linsie” fund to provide funding by doing that. The workers on the streets haven’t gotten their salaries yet. Mr. Sasunyan also mentioned that. Perhaps the rushing of the Armenian authorities made the “Linsie” funding providers angry. Perhaps they also think that the Armenians went ahead and destructed the lines with the purpose of selling them and didn’t wait until the preparation of the final documents and provision of funding. In fact, now is the perfect time to end the asphalting. Everyone knows that it won’t be easy to do construction when the rain and snow begin. However, it’s possible to see Armenian authorities finance asphalting during the rain of autumn. They’ll take out the rainwater in the holes of the streets and asphalt the streets on the wet ground. It’s okay if the roads are low in quality, they’ll get destructed in the winter and new construction will begin in the spring.
We tried finding out from the municipal authorities whether they were worried over the current situation at hand. Head of the Construction and Remodeling Department of the municipality Frunze Basentsyan said that the department officials are also worried and can’t do anything about it. Community head of the Central community Gagik Beglaryan said that he has nothing to do with the projects funded by the “Linsie” fund”. This was almost the same answer given by head of the Arabkir community Hovhannes Shahinyan. He just added the following: “There are old sewers running by those destructed parts. It’s absurd to asphalt the streets without changing those lines because there will definitely be accidents and it will be necessary to destruct the newly constructed road. We need more money to change the sewers. According to my sources, work has already been and the budget has been prepared. They are probably trying to find more money.” I tried to find out from the Armenian president’s administration when the reconstruction of the streets will begin. Currently, President Robert Kocharyan’s administrative chief Armen Gevorgyan is in charge of the “Linsie” fund’s road construction coordination. The president’s press secretary didn’t say anything more, he just added that “the documents of the fund, which need to be presented to the taxation service still aren’t ready. We hope that we will end the documentation and start working again. True, I wasn’t able to find out when the reconstruction will begin, but I’ll make a reference to Harut Sasunyan’s words in order to console the drivers and residents of Yerevan. “The people of Armenia have a right to complain. When I came and saw this, I got really angry and am also complaining. I hope that all the documents will be signed , we will get the money and we’ll pay the construction workers because it’s not fair for the constructors to work and not get any profit.”