MP Bagratyan to Government: “Go to Google Map and see how much land is
devoted to grape growing”
Grisha Balasanyan

13:01, May 21, 2013

Opposition MPs ripped the government’s proposed plans for the next
five years, labelling it as having no connection to reality.

At today’s parliament session HAK MP Hrand Bagratyan said the nation
was at a crucial juncture and that the government needed to focus on
several main issues.

`In reality, the budget hasn’t grown. While it appears that it has
increased from 600-700 billion to one trillion, when he deduct
inflation we see it hasn’t grown,’ said Bagratyan.

He described the government’s proposals as not comprising a serious
government agenda for future growth. Bagratyan noted that the
government must spell out how it will go about generating investment
and show how savings will be transformed into increased investment.

`It shouldn’t be the objective of the government, for example, to
promote tourism or build good hotels. Government isn’t in the business
of building hotels,’ he declared.

Bagratyan noted that Armenia’s mining industry must be better
regulated as well as the country’s aviation sector.

He said that tickets from Armenia to Europe shouldn’t cost more than
$350 and that even lower prices are possible.

`I would deregulate the aviation sector in five minutes,’ Bagratyan declared.

He also ridiculed government statistics alleging that Armenia produces
241,000 tons of grapes and 812,000 tons of vegetables. Bagratyan
claimed that such production figures exceeded the Soviet era, when the
country’s agriculture was in much better shape, and were thus
inflated.

`Switch on your computers and go to the Google Map page. Check out how
much land is being allocated to grape growing. You’ll see it’s just
17,000 hectares. Do your homework and provide us with accurate
statistics for a change,’ Bagratyan said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress