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ARMENIA WANTS TO SELL-OFF MORE OF ITS INFRASTRUCTURE
http://asbarez.com/110653/armenia-wants-to-sell-off-more-of-its-infrastructure/
Thursday, June 13th, 2013
The Vorotan power generating station
BY ARA KHACHATOURIAN
Armenia's Energy Minister Armen Movisisn on Thursday confirmed that
the Armenian government was indeed in talks with a US-based energy
company interested in buying Armenia's largest power-generating
facility in Syunik . He did, however, say that the government has
not made a final decision.
However, in making the announcement on Wednesday, the US-based
ContourGlobal said it was in advanced talks and was willing to
contribute significant sums for the power generating plant, with
plans to invest significantly in its upgrade.
"While commercial terms are still being finalized the purchase price
will be very significant and all of the funds will be sourced from
outside of Armenia using a combination of ContourGlobal's own resources
and those of prestigious international financial institutions," it
said in a statement. They include the U.S. Overseas Private Investment
Corporation (OPIC) and the International Finance Corporation, a World
Bank Group division, according to the statement.
"In addition to the full purchase price, ContourGlobal will be
committing to invest further in a major overhaul of the main generating
equipment at the power plants," added the company. "This investment is
urgently needed given the age of the plants and the under investment
in recent years."
The Vorotan plant has the capability to produce as much power as
the Medzamor Nuclear Power Plant. Any decision about the sale of the
Vorotan Plant must be ratified by Parliament, as it is not on a list
of state assets that are subject to privatization.
If parliament approves this takeover, it will effectively hand-over the
last vestige of its energy infrastructure to a foreign company, forever
binding itself to the whims and policies of that corporation, whose
priorities do not include the national security interests of Armenia.
What's also worth noting is that the plants within the Vorotan complex
were supposed to be refurbished with 51 million euros ($66 million)
in loans that were provided by a German development bank to Armenia
in 2010. Officials said at the time that the modernization will be
complete by 2015, reported RFE/RL on Wednesday.
This is the second large-scale effort in recent months by Armenia's
government to essentially give away a critical asset in the Syunik
region, bordering the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic to the west, Iran to
the south and Turkey to the east.
The notorious scheme to lease pasture land to Iran was vocally opposed
by Armenia's environmental and civic activists, who pointed out the
dangers in eventually populating this critical and strategic region
by Iranian shepherds.
Successive Armenian leaders have made it a common practice to sell-off
critical infrastructure to others. This trend started with the Levon
Ter-Petrosian administration and continued with Robert Kocharian and
seems to be favored by the Serzh Sarkisian regime.
Let's take an inventory of what critical aspects of Armenia's
infrastructure are foreign owned: gas, telecommunications, partial
power, nuclear power. This scheme will seal the deal and hand over
control of ALL of Armenia's infrastructure to foreigners. This does
not include the inventory of Armenia's natural resources, which during
the first Sarkisian term was systematically sold to so-called foreign
"investors."
This latest effort, as was the case in the past, will make some
individuals overnight millionaires and the public once again will be
left footing the ultimate bill.
If this goes to parliament, Armenia's legislators should put national
interests ahead of their partisan or individual interests and vote this
effort down unanimously. However, through its aggressive election fraud
mechanism, the ruling regime ensured last year that the parliament
will do exactly what the president wants.
From: Baghdasarian
http://asbarez.com/110653/armenia-wants-to-sell-off-more-of-its-infrastructure/
Thursday, June 13th, 2013
The Vorotan power generating station
BY ARA KHACHATOURIAN
Armenia's Energy Minister Armen Movisisn on Thursday confirmed that
the Armenian government was indeed in talks with a US-based energy
company interested in buying Armenia's largest power-generating
facility in Syunik . He did, however, say that the government has
not made a final decision.
However, in making the announcement on Wednesday, the US-based
ContourGlobal said it was in advanced talks and was willing to
contribute significant sums for the power generating plant, with
plans to invest significantly in its upgrade.
"While commercial terms are still being finalized the purchase price
will be very significant and all of the funds will be sourced from
outside of Armenia using a combination of ContourGlobal's own resources
and those of prestigious international financial institutions," it
said in a statement. They include the U.S. Overseas Private Investment
Corporation (OPIC) and the International Finance Corporation, a World
Bank Group division, according to the statement.
"In addition to the full purchase price, ContourGlobal will be
committing to invest further in a major overhaul of the main generating
equipment at the power plants," added the company. "This investment is
urgently needed given the age of the plants and the under investment
in recent years."
The Vorotan plant has the capability to produce as much power as
the Medzamor Nuclear Power Plant. Any decision about the sale of the
Vorotan Plant must be ratified by Parliament, as it is not on a list
of state assets that are subject to privatization.
If parliament approves this takeover, it will effectively hand-over the
last vestige of its energy infrastructure to a foreign company, forever
binding itself to the whims and policies of that corporation, whose
priorities do not include the national security interests of Armenia.
What's also worth noting is that the plants within the Vorotan complex
were supposed to be refurbished with 51 million euros ($66 million)
in loans that were provided by a German development bank to Armenia
in 2010. Officials said at the time that the modernization will be
complete by 2015, reported RFE/RL on Wednesday.
This is the second large-scale effort in recent months by Armenia's
government to essentially give away a critical asset in the Syunik
region, bordering the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic to the west, Iran to
the south and Turkey to the east.
The notorious scheme to lease pasture land to Iran was vocally opposed
by Armenia's environmental and civic activists, who pointed out the
dangers in eventually populating this critical and strategic region
by Iranian shepherds.
Successive Armenian leaders have made it a common practice to sell-off
critical infrastructure to others. This trend started with the Levon
Ter-Petrosian administration and continued with Robert Kocharian and
seems to be favored by the Serzh Sarkisian regime.
Let's take an inventory of what critical aspects of Armenia's
infrastructure are foreign owned: gas, telecommunications, partial
power, nuclear power. This scheme will seal the deal and hand over
control of ALL of Armenia's infrastructure to foreigners. This does
not include the inventory of Armenia's natural resources, which during
the first Sarkisian term was systematically sold to so-called foreign
"investors."
This latest effort, as was the case in the past, will make some
individuals overnight millionaires and the public once again will be
left footing the ultimate bill.
If this goes to parliament, Armenia's legislators should put national
interests ahead of their partisan or individual interests and vote this
effort down unanimously. However, through its aggressive election fraud
mechanism, the ruling regime ensured last year that the parliament
will do exactly what the president wants.
From: Baghdasarian