The Komitas and Tigran Mets streets of Yerevan went through destruction a couple of months ago. They were destructed but not remodeled. At the time, it was announced that the streets were going to be remodeled by the “Linsi” fund. However, there is a delay in receiving the money from the fund and the situation of the streets is creating serious problems for public transportation in Yerevan.
In an interview with one newspaper in September, deputy director of the “Linsi” fund Harut Sasunyan said that the Armenian authorities rushed to destroy the streets without waiting for the final documentation. It’s quite possible that the roads will stay like that because the same thing happened with the documentation for the railway lines of the streets. After hearing about the funding from the fund, they couldn’t wait until the money got to Armenia and started destructing the streets. They started with the lines. The director of the Project Implementation Agency of the Linsi Fund Edward Bezoyan told us during a telephone conversation that the project will last until 2008. During that time, they would reconstruct those streets whenever they wanted to. So, there is still time and they will be able to complete the work by 2008. It appears that they haven’t waited to get the funding. It’s no problem if the two major streets for public transportation are facing serious problems.
There is another issue. About a week ago, it was known that Cilician Catholicos of the Great Home Aram the First have sent a letter of appraisal to the director of the “Lins” fund Kirk Krikoryan thanking him for his 4.5 million dollar contribution to the Armenian schools in Lebanon. So, the fund, or Kirk Krikoryan himself, can provide funding at any given time and the documentation won’t take that long, just like it took for the construction of these two streets. Now we can recall the rumors claiming that the roads are not being asphalted, because Armenia hasn’t imported the necessary material. Bitumen is the main material for asphalting and it’s mainly imported from Iran. The problem is that America is not in favor of Armenia buy the material from Iran with the money that it provides. During this period, the Armenian authorities have probably tried to find other solutions, or simply import the bitumen from Iran, but have a third country be involved with the documentation, let’s say, Kuwait, with which America has very good relations. Perhaps the bitumen has already been imported because the road construction on Komitas street has begun for the past two weeks already. Chief Architect of Yerevan Samvel Danielyan told journalists during a press conference that “bitumen is imported to Armenia and work has begun”. He also said: “You say that “Linsi” is not doing its job, but it is”. It’s quite possible that the bitumen has been imported; it’s just that based on our information, “Linsi” hasn’t given the money. Edward Bezoyan also affirmed that indirectly. According to him, the two “Dorozhnik” and “Vahagn & Samvel” road construction companies have started the construction through the means of their own resources until the fund gives the money. Based on non-official data, the funding for the reconstruction of the roads has been given to the Armenian authorities from the storing funds of the Armenian president of the Armenian government. Seeing that Krikoryan is not sending the money on time, the Armenian authorities have decided to reconstruct the streets some way. Otherwise, the snow will fall on the destructed streets, it will create poor driving conditions and will serve as the reason for many accidents. As a matter of fact, there have been many accidents on the streets of Tigran Mets and Komitas.
About a month ago, when “168 Hours” had touched upon this issue again, press secretary of the Armenian president Victor Soghomonyan had informed that the reason for the delay of the construction was due to the main water tubes running through the sewers, which are old and must be renewed. That’s why the asphalting was taking that long. But even the tubes weren’t changed during those months. They have just started. “Yerevan Water” said that they are participating in the remodeling, but said that they would say how later. This time Mr. Soghomonyan didn’t give any new information. He didn’t even know how the sewer pipelines are being remodeled. Chief Architect Samvel Danielyan said that the work will be completed by December 15. Now there is a worry that the roads are constructed on the surface in order to end it soon. Experts say that it will be necessary to destruct them once again in the spring and asphalt them, just like before the visit of French President Jacques Chirac to Armenia, when the road from Teryan street to Azatutyun avenue was asphalted