GARBAGE WOES NOTWITHSTANDING, ALAVERDI DREAMS OF BECOMING A TOURIST DESTINATION
Larisa Paremuzyan
http://hetq.am/eng/articles/29768/garbage-woes-notwithstanding-alaverdi-dreams-of-becoming-a-tourist-destination.html
09:48, October 2, 2013
Every year, Alaverdi Mayor Artavazd Varosyan allocates 33 million
AMD from the budget to deal with the town's persistent garbage problem.
A new landfill, costing around 130 million AMD was built outside the
town last year to deal with the growing mounds of refuse.
But spending all this money hasn't put a dent in the problem. Walk
the streets of the town and you'll come across mounds of garbage
all around.
A real unsanitary hot spot is in the Sarahart neighborhood where
rusting litter bins are overflowing with uncollected refuse.
Passing cows feed on the refuse as if the site was a drive-in fast
food joint.
The Alaverdi Municipality hasn't been able to resolve the issue of
the "free-range" livestock hoofing their way up and down the town's
streets.
Kids attending school in the area have to hold their noses and tiptoe
through the stinking mess. Residents of nearby apartments don't even
approach the bins to discard their garbage bags, preferring to throw
the bags in the general direction of the bins from a safe distance.
P.S. 12 Principal Gohar Avetyan told Hetq that she has made several
calls to the municipality complaing about the mess.
"Workers came and moved the litter bins away from the school and
closer to a house where I live. But local residents continued to
throw their trash next to the school. They were forced to move the
bins back again".
Against this backdrop of garbage and indifference, both public and
private, Alaverdi officials still dream of turning their town into
a tourist hot spot.
I wish them luck.
Larisa Paremuzyan
http://hetq.am/eng/articles/29768/garbage-woes-notwithstanding-alaverdi-dreams-of-becoming-a-tourist-destination.html
09:48, October 2, 2013
Every year, Alaverdi Mayor Artavazd Varosyan allocates 33 million
AMD from the budget to deal with the town's persistent garbage problem.
A new landfill, costing around 130 million AMD was built outside the
town last year to deal with the growing mounds of refuse.
But spending all this money hasn't put a dent in the problem. Walk
the streets of the town and you'll come across mounds of garbage
all around.
A real unsanitary hot spot is in the Sarahart neighborhood where
rusting litter bins are overflowing with uncollected refuse.
Passing cows feed on the refuse as if the site was a drive-in fast
food joint.
The Alaverdi Municipality hasn't been able to resolve the issue of
the "free-range" livestock hoofing their way up and down the town's
streets.
Kids attending school in the area have to hold their noses and tiptoe
through the stinking mess. Residents of nearby apartments don't even
approach the bins to discard their garbage bags, preferring to throw
the bags in the general direction of the bins from a safe distance.
P.S. 12 Principal Gohar Avetyan told Hetq that she has made several
calls to the municipality complaing about the mess.
"Workers came and moved the litter bins away from the school and
closer to a house where I live. But local residents continued to
throw their trash next to the school. They were forced to move the
bins back again".
Against this backdrop of garbage and indifference, both public and
private, Alaverdi officials still dream of turning their town into
a tourist hot spot.
I wish them luck.