CONTROVERSIAL CONSTRUCTION: RESIDENTS IN YEREVAN DEMAND SUSPENSION OF 'ILLEGAL WORK' IN THEIR YARD
NAZIK ARMENAKYAN
ArmeniaNow
12.05.11
By Gohar Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow intern
Opposition Heritage party representatives, environmentalists and
residents gathered in one of the courtyards in a central street
in Yerevan to express their protest against the construction of a
multi-storey building there.
Avagshin, a local construction company, started the ground work in
106 Nalbandyan Street with permission to knock down a kindergarten
that was located at the same address.
Styopa Safaryan, the head of Heritage's parliamentary faction,
asserted, however, that the company was carrying out construction
illegally.
"No company has been authorized to start construction here," said
Safaryan.
Urban Development Minister Vardan Vardanyan, who went to the site
to get first-hand information about the construction project, gave
assurances that construction there had been suspended.
"We have sent an official note to the City Hall asking it to cease
construction until required urban development documents can be
submitted - the only existing authorization referred only to the
kindergarten here, but no one has authorized any construction here,
moreover, we are banning it," said the minister.
Environment Minister Aram Harutyunyan stated that until the
construction company gets permission no work will be carried out on
the site.
"They have to go through all the legal procedures, get a proper
authorization, hold public discussions; only after that, taking into
account all opinions, we will see whether it is worth giving a positive
conclusion or not," said the minister.
The only party that seems happy with the construction of a multi-storey
building there are the owners of private houses in the vicinity
of the construction site; they say that they have signed contracts
with the construction company according to which they will be given
apartments in the new building in return for the permission to knock
down their houses.
"It is excellent that they are building a block of flats; we have an
agreement that they will give us apartments in it and we will finally
be able to get away from our damp rat-houses," Mariam Petrosyan, 28,
told ArmeniaNow.
From: Baghdasarian
NAZIK ARMENAKYAN
ArmeniaNow
12.05.11
By Gohar Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow intern
Opposition Heritage party representatives, environmentalists and
residents gathered in one of the courtyards in a central street
in Yerevan to express their protest against the construction of a
multi-storey building there.
Avagshin, a local construction company, started the ground work in
106 Nalbandyan Street with permission to knock down a kindergarten
that was located at the same address.
Styopa Safaryan, the head of Heritage's parliamentary faction,
asserted, however, that the company was carrying out construction
illegally.
"No company has been authorized to start construction here," said
Safaryan.
Urban Development Minister Vardan Vardanyan, who went to the site
to get first-hand information about the construction project, gave
assurances that construction there had been suspended.
"We have sent an official note to the City Hall asking it to cease
construction until required urban development documents can be
submitted - the only existing authorization referred only to the
kindergarten here, but no one has authorized any construction here,
moreover, we are banning it," said the minister.
Environment Minister Aram Harutyunyan stated that until the
construction company gets permission no work will be carried out on
the site.
"They have to go through all the legal procedures, get a proper
authorization, hold public discussions; only after that, taking into
account all opinions, we will see whether it is worth giving a positive
conclusion or not," said the minister.
The only party that seems happy with the construction of a multi-storey
building there are the owners of private houses in the vicinity
of the construction site; they say that they have signed contracts
with the construction company according to which they will be given
apartments in the new building in return for the permission to knock
down their houses.
"It is excellent that they are building a block of flats; we have an
agreement that they will give us apartments in it and we will finally
be able to get away from our damp rat-houses," Mariam Petrosyan, 28,
told ArmeniaNow.
From: Baghdasarian