CAMPAIGNING FOR THE ENVIRONMENT: POLITICAL GROUPS WEIGH-IN AHEAD OF CITY COUNCIL ELECTION
ENVIRONMENT | 17.04.13 | 15:30
Photolure
By GAYANE MKRTCHYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter
Political forces in Armenia running in the Yerevan city council
elections discussed the Armenian capital’s environmental challenges
and suggested their perspectives and possible solutions.
Enlarge Photo
Karine Danielyan
Prosperous Armenia party candidate Gurgen Gasparyan says in their
party platform the main emphasis is on the elimination of hazardous
and perilous productions, creation and exploitation of a recycling
factory in Nubarashen (where the main waste dumb is), which would
supply the town of Nubarashen with electricity.
In reference to building a recycling factory, president of For
Sustainable Human Development NGO Karine Danielyan says previously
Japanese specialists suggested a method of solving the Nubarashen dump
issue, according to which methane flammable gas should be collected
and burnt to produce electric power, however today their suggested
method is applied only partly.
“The authorities dragged the signing of the agreement with the
Japanese for so long that they [the Japanese] told me during our
meeting that they would widely declare their distrust towards our
authorities. After that our side gave one third of Nubarashen dump to
the Japanese. The economy ministry had suspicions that the Japanese
wanted to monopolize our waste management, which is simply ridiculous.
All this actually makes me suspect that some people are doing illegal
business on Nubarashen dump,” she says.
According to Barev Yerevan alliance’s Susanna Muradyan, nothing is
left from Alexander Tamanyan’s (chief architect, author of Yerevan
city plan) green Yerevan, while he had taken into account the fact the
Armenian capital is located in a semi-desert climatic zone.
“Today we have 6 square meters or less per resident, instead of the 20
square meters we used to have. The biggest issue, however, is that the
city plan has been distorted and continues being distorted every day
with the city council’s and personally the mayor’s participation.
Today the Circular park (downtown Yerevan) has become a circular cafe.
As soon as they feel pressed, they declare superior state interest and
do their business,” says Muradyan.
Rule of Law party (OEK) representative Hrayr Sargsyan believes that
the city plan has to be revised in order to solve Yerevan’s
environmental issues, special attention should be paid to the
construction licensing processes.
The Armenian Revolutionary Federation’s party platform in the section
on the environmental challenges stresses the importance of freeing
Yerevan from illegal construction. The party representative Apres
Zohrabyan explains that it implies construction at the expense of
green areas.
“Such examples are the Botanical garden, the Hrazdan gorge, the
Victory Park, where green areas of city importance have been used for
urban development,” he says.
Eva Tovmasyan, from the Armenian National Congress, says society is
left out of initial decision-making in matters concerning the city
environment. She says that the recent years’ greening and
beautification has been only decorative – flower beds, little gardens,
meadows, which does not solve the oxygen deficiency issue.
Environmentalist Danielyan is convinced that the solution of the
existing environmental issues requires a serious political will.
“The Yerevan city plan adopted in 1971 was supposed to work until
2000, but we have not found the decree by which that city plan should
stop being in action. They put the city plan aside, said it was a new
regime, hence a new approach — hey put a building wherever they
want,” says the environmentalist. “Today’s environmental issues are
the consequences of urban development. Foreign visitors come and say:
“You had small Paris, why have you turned it into New York?” or “Why
are you destroying old Yerevan? What is the purpose of those tightly
lined-up giant buildings?”