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UNCOVERED: "COVERED MARKET" OPENS AFTER TWO-YEAR RENOVATION AND AMID CHARGES OF ILLEGALITY
Yerevan's "Covered Market" under repair for the past two years and
an apple of discord between the new owner and civil society, Monday
opened its doors and welcomed the first customers.
Enlarge Photo Yerevan's Pak Shuka ("Covered Market"), February 2011.
The market exterior has remained unchanged, however underground parking
lots have been built, a new two-storey glass structure has emerged in
the back, as for the interior, it looks like one of new owner Samvel
Alexanyan's Yerevan City supermarkets â?" the product layout is the
same as in that chain of hyper markets, there are around two dozen
cash desks; Natali Pharm pharmacy, again belonging to Alexanyan,
is in the left wing of the market, there is the typical Yerevan City
supermarket's escalator to the second floor. Former fruit and vegetable
vendors are given a very small part of the market, in the right wing,
to sell their produce.
During the two years of its repair numerous acts of protest have
been held against its reconstruction, with participation of renowned
architects and civil activists. They repeatedly claimed that the
reconstruction was proceeding with major violations of the law on urban
development and monument preservation. A former chief architect of
Yerevan even said that the Covered Market as a historical-cultural
monument could be regarded as lost. City Hall, the culture and
urban development ministries, as bodies in charge of the sphere,
made statements that they granted no license for such construction,
however it led to no legal liability for the construction implementer.
During ArmeniaNow's visit today to the market, Alexanyan himself was
there. (He had claimed that he possessed no businesses, and that his
wife was running some.) Today Alexanyan claimed he had come to shop
for fruit and told ArmeniaNow that the supermarket name was still
Covered Market (countering speculations that it would be renamed
into Yerevan City). The plastic bags and carts, indeed, had Pak Shuka
(Covered market) printed on them.
The employees of the market said the official opening is planned for
October 9.
Meanwhile, "Liberate the Market from the Oligarch" civil initiative
states its determination to continue the fight and will start daily
acts of protest next to the market building 'to stop the illegality'.
While the re-opened market and newly opened supermarket was slowly
taking its natural course of operation, members of the initiative
held a discussion in an attempt to determine which state body had
licensed the construction.
Sevada Hayrapetyan, head of the state department for urban development
at the Ministry of Urban Development, partaking in the discussion
said the permission was granted for the construction from point zero
only. RA Police's Legal Department head Meruzhan Hakobyan said they
could have interfered and suspended the construction if City Hall had
made a respective request, with a statement that they were unable to
stop the illegal construction by their own means.
The initiative member Garegin Chugaszyan says they are planning to
turn to court to disclose the illegality.
Yerevan's "Covered Market" under repair for the past two years and
an apple of discord between the new owner and civil society, Monday
opened its doors and welcomed the first customers.
Enlarge Photo Yerevan's Pak Shuka ("Covered Market"), February 2011.
The market exterior has remained unchanged, however underground parking
lots have been built, a new two-storey glass structure has emerged in
the back, as for the interior, it looks like one of new owner Samvel
Alexanyan's Yerevan City supermarkets â?" the product layout is the
same as in that chain of hyper markets, there are around two dozen
cash desks; Natali Pharm pharmacy, again belonging to Alexanyan,
is in the left wing of the market, there is the typical Yerevan City
supermarket's escalator to the second floor. Former fruit and vegetable
vendors are given a very small part of the market, in the right wing,
to sell their produce.
During the two years of its repair numerous acts of protest have
been held against its reconstruction, with participation of renowned
architects and civil activists. They repeatedly claimed that the
reconstruction was proceeding with major violations of the law on urban
development and monument preservation. A former chief architect of
Yerevan even said that the Covered Market as a historical-cultural
monument could be regarded as lost. City Hall, the culture and
urban development ministries, as bodies in charge of the sphere,
made statements that they granted no license for such construction,
however it led to no legal liability for the construction implementer.
During ArmeniaNow's visit today to the market, Alexanyan himself was
there. (He had claimed that he possessed no businesses, and that his
wife was running some.) Today Alexanyan claimed he had come to shop
for fruit and told ArmeniaNow that the supermarket name was still
Covered Market (countering speculations that it would be renamed
into Yerevan City). The plastic bags and carts, indeed, had Pak Shuka
(Covered market) printed on them.
The employees of the market said the official opening is planned for
October 9.
Meanwhile, "Liberate the Market from the Oligarch" civil initiative
states its determination to continue the fight and will start daily
acts of protest next to the market building 'to stop the illegality'.
While the re-opened market and newly opened supermarket was slowly
taking its natural course of operation, members of the initiative
held a discussion in an attempt to determine which state body had
licensed the construction.
Sevada Hayrapetyan, head of the state department for urban development
at the Ministry of Urban Development, partaking in the discussion
said the permission was granted for the construction from point zero
only. RA Police's Legal Department head Meruzhan Hakobyan said they
could have interfered and suspended the construction if City Hall had
made a respective request, with a statement that they were unable to
stop the illegal construction by their own means.
The initiative member Garegin Chugaszyan says they are planning to
turn to court to disclose the illegality.