Author: nina hovnanian

STATE ORDER FOR CAPITAL CONSTRUCTION CUT BY OVER TWO BILLION

`5:-state-order-for-capital-construction-cut-by-over-two-billion&catid=6:economy&Itemid=18
Saturday, 16 February 2013 14:45

The recent meeting of the government endorsed the state order for
capital construction to be funded from the state budget for 2013.
According to NKR Minister of Urban Development Karen Shahramanyan, the
order volume amounts to 11 billion and 500 million drams, instead of
13 billion and 637 million drams in the past year. As, compared to the
last year, it decreased by over 2 billion drams, the program primarily
includes passing objects that make up about 75% of the overall
program.
What construction programs will be a priority this year, and what
goals are to be achieved? This was discussed in our interview with NKR
Minister of Urban Development Karen SHAHRAMANYAN.

– Mr. Shahramanyan, what will the policy in the capital construction
sphere be this year?

– Like in the previous years, currently the priorities of the state
order are housing construction, covering construction and capital
repair of apartments of deceased freedom fighters’ families, displaced
people and large families, as well as solution of the housing problem
of orphan-children. There are programs related to the construction and
repair of cultural and sports facilities, schools and kindergartens.
Programs for the construction of roads, water systems also remain in
force.

– How much money will be spent on housing?

– Within the 2013 state budget, 1024.617 million drams will be
allocated for housing, which will mainly focus on the completion of
the objects passed to this year and those to be repaired. 160 million
drams will be provided to regional administrations for removing the
damages caused by the natural disasters in the regions. The capital
repair of the roofs of apartment buildings in the regional centers
will be also continued, for which 57 million drams are allocated.

– The government is very active in the construction of the education
sphere, however, there is a shortage of schools and pre-school
establishments both in the capital and in the regions.

– This year, the construction and repair of 5 schools and 6
kindergartens will be completed and construction works will be
continued in 12 schools and 2 kindergartens. Construction of a
kindergarten in the town of Karvachar is starting this year.

– Unfortunately, the roads in Artsakh are not improved. How do you
plan to resolve this issue?

– The state budget allocated 2 billion and 561 million drams for road
construction. Works will be underway in the road sections of
Stepanakert – Nngi – Martuni and Stepanakert – Goris; improvement and
asphalting works will be conducted on the road Ivanyan – Noragyugh in
the Askeran region. 50 million drams are allocated for the maintenance
and operation of the republican roads, and 400 million drams are
allocated for the maintenance, operation and current repair of the
local roads.

– The major task in the urban development sphere, which requires
urgent solution, is, perhaps, construction of water systems. If I’m
not mistaken, the water supply program will be completed in
Stepanakert this year.

– Yes, this is quite a large program planned for four communities – in
Mushkapat, Agorti, Aknaberd and Artashavi, water supply systems and
water measuring nodes will be constructed.

The irrigation program provides 80 million AMD, of which 50 million –
for the Kashatagh region. The yards, the improvement of which started
in 2012, will be put into operation in Stepanakert. Their value makes
641.142 million drams, and the construction-engineering works for
improving the water supply system will take 1 billion and 185 million
drams. The cost of the water supply program is 9 billion and 564
million drams. To date, works at 8 billion and 145 million drams have
been implemented. By the end of the year, the program will be almost
completed, and 47,446 people will be provided with 24-hour water
supply.

It should be noted that construction works will be carried out not
only on government funds in the territory of the republic. For
example, in the health sphere the works will be conducted on the funds
transferred by the closed JSC Karabakh Telecom on the extra-budgetary
account of humanitarian assistance of the NKR Government. The program
will continue the construction of hospital buildings in the towns of
Martakert, Martuni and Berdzor, repair of the hospital in the town of
Kovsakan and of the first floor of the Republican clinic. The
extra-budgetary funds will provide the further construction of
Stepanakert School #11.

– Mr. Shahramanyan, complaints are often voiced about the poor quality
of construction. How does the Ministry of Urban Development manage to
control the situation?

– The question can be viewed from several perspectives. At the sites
under our control, there is no problem of poor construction (in
particular, related to reliability). The issue is most acute in those
cases where the facilities are built via private investments. In this
case, the technical control is missing. This is quite a serious issue
requiring urgent solution. Being the most responsible and important
part of the whole construction process, actually, it dropped out of
sight. Meanwhile, the body giving the construction permit must require
and clarify the availability of an organization on the engineering
control. Though, there is an appropriate inspection body conducting
the control on the established order, but it is not enough. The
ministry, with the help of 20 technical supervisors, are not
physically able to control the construction in the territory of the
entire republic. We implement construction works at over 300 sites.

– At a recent meeting with the NKR Prime Minister, the builders raised
a lot of issues, one of which concerned the quality of local products.
As noted, it does not meet the accepted standards and its volume does
not meet the demand of the country.
– Yes, according to the government’s policy, we should mainly use
local building materials. Local assortment of stones and concrete is
mainly used here. But, there is a problem of inconsistency of the
building materials’ quality, in particular, used for trim works. Above
all, they are not competitive at the market, yielding to granite on
the design decisions, the volume and quality of the production. The
organizations engaged in the production of building materials cannot
meet the demand in the required time, and to suspend the construction
is impossible. I see the solution in improving the production
competitiveness.

– Why? Are there any mechanisms of state support?

– Besides the available raw materials, processing workshops and
advanced equipment are needed. We have inherited the stone-processing
equipment from the Soviet era, except one or two organizations, which
have recently purchased the equipment, but they can’t meet the
demand of the entire republic. As for the state support, the issue was
dealt with by the Ministry of Economic Development. As far as I know,
some enterprises have acquired modern equipment with the state
support, via a privileged loan.

– There is certain dissatisfaction among the people related to the
operation of water supply systems, when for various reasons the newly
paved roads are destroyed. What is it conditioned by?

– I think this is due to staff shortages and the fact that the
Stepanakert CJSC Vodokanal hasn’t justified itself yet. Actually, we
have no hydrobuilders. After the construction of new polyethylene
pipes, the water network service is still carried out on the old
network, which is already out of order, leading to accidents. This is
a very serious problem, and at the next meeting with the President of
the Republic, we will discuss it, especially that the executive
schemes of the commissioned objects are passed to the CJSC Vodokanal.
Along with the schemes, we will provide their electronic versions.

– How do the buildings in Stepanakert correspond to the planning
regulations, including from the architectural point of view?

– This is a big problem, especially for Stepanakert, and therefore the
mayor’s office should be more fundamental on this issue. First of all,
mass granting of land should be stopped in the capital; some people
get a building permit even in the green areas, covering the sidewalks.
Then, we should get rid of illegal structures. In short, there is a
concept of architectural and construction task and its rules should be
followed. The population should understand this

Srbuhi Vanian

Arman Melikian and Andrias Ghukasian not to vote in election

Monday,
February 18

Two of the seven presidential candidates running in the election will
not cast their ballots. Aysor.am was informed by Ms. Eleonora
Asatrian, the head of the campaign headquarters of the former Foreign
Minister of Nagorno Karabakh Arman Melinian that the presidential
candidate will not go to the polls. `Moreover, our candidate has no
proxies at polling stations and we follow voting through the mass
media’.

The other candidate who does not intend to vote in the election is
Andrias Ghukasian who has been on hunger strike for 29 days.

He feels poorly and will probably communicate with journalists later today.

He has only told Aysor.am that he will continue his hunger strike
until the finalization of the election results.

TODAY, 14:08
Aysor.am

Stamps are erased with a wet tissue

11:27 – 18.02.2013

Citizens are alarming that after voting stamp on the passport is
easily erased with a wet tissue. Press speaker of Raffi Hovhannisya,
Hovsep Khurshudyan informed Yerkir.am that several citizens have
turned to Raffi Hovhannisyan’s HQ.
By the way, journalist of Yerkir.am tried to erase the stamp with a
wet tissue and it really came off.

Second proxy of Serzh Sergsyan dismissed
Mon, 02/18/2013 – 13:14
News

According to the head of public relations of the presidential
candidate Hrant Bagratyan’s election headquarter Karine Harutyunyan,
in several election polls more than 400 people voted which is strange
for this hour. She presented Yerevan 04/01 election poll where on
10.15 400 people voted and the 01/02 election poll where at around 10
o’clock 200 people voted as examples.

– The presence of two proxies of Serzh Sargsyan are noticed at the
same time, which is not allowed by law- said K. Harutyunyan- for
example in the 12/01 election poll our representative removed the
second proxy of Serzh Sargsyan.

Author:
Factinfo

Decision 2013: Armenian first president said all seven candidates are worthy

VOTE 2013 | 18.02.13 | 13:43

Armenia’s first president Levon Ter Petrosyan, who has voted in the N
9/11 polling station said he voted for the `sake of the Republic of
Armenia’. Ter-Petrosyan said all seven candidates are worthy and he
would have voted for all of them if there was a chance.

Ter-Petrosyan, led a formidable challenge to the presidency in 2008
and subsequently was the catalyst of protests that led to a violent
post-election uprising that resulted in 10 deaths, dozens of arrests
and multiple injuries. The 68-year old statesman did not stand for
election in this year’s campaign, citing his age as one reason for not
engaging in the process.

President Serzh Sargsyan who has cast his ballot in the same polling
station hours earlier said he voted for `Armenia’s future’.

Arménie
Un pays aux mains des oligarques

Face au président sortant, les principaux candidats d’opposition à la
présidentielle du 18 février ont déclaré forfait. L’élite qui
monopolise le pouvoir et l’économie maintient la société dans le
dénuement.

Une économie `relativement libre’. Telle est la conclusion de l’étude
de l’Heritage Foundation et du Wall Street Journal qui place l’Arménie
au 38e rang d’un classement annuel mondial fondé sur dix critères
fondamentaux tels que la liberté économique et commerciale, la
transparence des investissements, l’ingérence de l’Etat ou la
corruption. Tigran Sarkissian, Premier ministre, s’est immédiatement
félicité de cette amélioration du climat économique et a trouvé cet
indicateur très encourageant pour la poursuite des réformes.
Cependant, en dépit de cette `liberté relative’ et des efforts
soutenus du gouvernement, il semble peu probable que les simples
citoyens voient leur existence s’améliorer en 2013, si l’on en croit
les déclarations d’Artem Assatrian, ministre du Travail et des
Affaires sociales. Les allocations ne seront pas revalorisées, et
aucune augmentation des retraites et des salaires des fonctionnaires
n’est prévue. Par ailleurs, sans politique d’investissement, le
problème du chômage n’a aucune chance d’être réglé. Le gouvernement
laisse tous les retraités et personnes dépendant d’allocations de
misère se débrouiller face à la hausse des prix.

En revanche, il a été décidé d’alourdir encore les impôts, ce qui
devrait rapporter 118 milliards de drams supplémentaires [216 millions
d’euros]. En 2012, une première augmentation, qui avait provoqué la
colère des citoyens, avait déjà permis de collecter 108 milliards de
plus. Le résultat de cette politique, nous l’avons sous les yeux. Les
chiffres officiels, dont on peut raisonnablement penser qu’ils sont
sous-estimés, recensent 34 % de pauvres en Arménie. Les sondages
révèlent que seuls 10,3 % des gens sont satisfaits de leur situation,
tandis que 49 % ont du mal à s’en sortir mais se font une raison et
que 37,4 % ont des difficultés et sont mécontents.

Autre menace pour les maigres ressources de nos concitoyens : la chute
de la devise nationale, le dram. En mars 2009, les pouvoirs publics
ont déjà grugé le peuple en cessant d’intervenir pendant une journée
pour maintenir son cours sur les Bourses locales, et le dollar est
ainsi passé de 300 à 360 drams. Tous les affairistes étaient au
courant, seuls les citoyens de base n’ont rien vu venir et ont perdu
une bonne part de leurs économies. Aujourd’hui, ce scénario pourrait
se répéter, car dans ses estimations des risques qui pèsent sur le
budget 2013, le gouvernement n’exclut pas que le dram puisse être
dévalué de 20 %. La population ne doit donc pas compter sur le pouvoir
pour une quelconque amélioration de son quotidien.

Cependant, la belle vie est une réalité pour certains en Arménie.
Environ 10 % des habitants en profitent, aux dépens des 90 % restants.
Les hommes d’affaires, banquiers liés au pouvoir et hauts
fonctionnaires ont un train de vie somptueux. Les postes dans la haute
administration sont donc très courus et on compte des dizaines de fois
plus de candidats souhaitant entrer à l’Académie nationale
d’administration qu’à l’université d’Etat d’Erevan. Les jeunes ont
sous les yeux trop d’exemples de la manière dont on peut se faire une
place au soleil dans un pays pauvre.

Une opposition discréditée

lire la suite, voir lien plus bas

lundi 18 février 2013,
Jean Eckian ©armenews.com

Chair of Election Commission leaves polling station

10:55 am | Today | Politics

Observers of Human Rights in Armenia () founded by “Civil
Society Institute” NGO have recorded several instances of violations
across the country.

0Ö?05 – Hrazdan, 25/26, 25/26 Polling station – The Chair of the
Commission Eghiazaryan Samvel left the polling station to go to the
shop and returned in 5 minutes.

09Ö?57 – Goris, 37/07 Polling station – CSI observer reported that the
candidate for the President’s office Serzh Sargsyan has two authorized
persons at that polling station which is a violation. As it is
stipulated in the Electoral Code, only one authorized person per
candidate is allowed to be present in the polling room.

09Ö?20 – Tavush Marz, village Getahovit, 40/33 Polling Station – CSI
observer observed a case of open voting. When the voter left the
voting cabin, he approached the ballot box, took out and showed his
ballot and stated loudly for whom he had voted. He explained to the
observers that he belonged to the Armenian Republican Party, he did
that statement voluntarily to prove them. According to the Armenian
Electoral Code, there is responsibility stipulated for violation of
the secret ballot voting.

08Ö?30 – Aparan, 14/21 Polling Station – The CSI observer reported that
an old woman was assisted to vote in the voting cabin by two persons.
The Chair of the Commission did not take any steps to prevent the
violation stating that the woman was very old and had difficulties
with voting.

08Ö?45 – Yerevan, Davtashen, 5/8 Polling Station – The Chair of the
Commission did not register CSI observer and did not allow her to
enter the polling station stating, that observer’s ID should be pinned
in a manner to be clearly visible at all times. There no such explicit
requirement in the Armenian Electoral Code, hence showing observer’s
ID is sufficient to be registered and to enter the polling station.

08Ö?45 Yerevan, Avan, 1/6 Polling station – “Civil Society Institute”
NGO observer has reported that there was a hole on the bottom of the
sealed ballot box. In regard to that, the Chair of the Commission
stated that all the members of the Commission had checked the ballot
box and sealed it, and it was possible that there were similar boxes
in other polling stations.

At the same polling station the authorized person of Raffi
Hovhannisyan told the observer that the Commission did not give him an
opportunity to work, did not engage him in the voting process and did
not provide with any information.

Ink again vanishes from passports

11:30 am | Today | Politics

Though the Central Election Commission (CEC) publicly tested last week
the new ink for special passport stamps that are supposed to prevent
multiple fraudulent voting in the February 18 Armenian presidential
election, the ink turns out to be easy to remove with a damp napkin
immediately after voting.

Armenia’s presidential candidate Raffi Hovhannisian’s election
headquarters received numerous alarms by citizens about the
`vanishing’ ink.

CEC Spokesperson Hermine Harutyunyan said the ink was supposed to
remain visible for at least 12 hours and could not be erased by any
substance or liquid.
To check the information A1+’s journalist tried to “wipe off ” the ink
stamp with water. The ink disappeared within minutes.

Similarly, the stamps disappeared during the May 2012 parliamentary
elections, sparking opposition allegations of foul play. Opposition
leaders claimed that this was done deliberately to enable Armenians
that supported or were bribed by the ruling Republican Party (HHK) to
vote in two or more polling stations. The CEC immediately denied the
allegations saying they had tested the vote stamps ahead of the
elections.

Under the country’s Electoral Code amended in 2011, election officials
must put ink stamps on voters’ passports at all polling stations.

Putin Presents Updated Russian Foreign Policy Concept

MOSCOW, February 16 (RIA Novosti) – Russian President Vladimir Putin
met with the Russian Security Council on Friday to present the
country’s new security policy concept, updated to take into account
recent developments around the world, the Kremlin.ru website said on
Friday.
The updated version of the document was drafted in accordance with the
Presidential Executive Order dated May 7, 2012.
Speaking about the amended document, Putin said it now `takes into
account recent changes in the world, and this is important.’
`In particular, it reflects major developments such as the global
financial and economic crisis, which continues to worry us all, the
changing balance of power in the world and in world affairs, the
growing turbulence in the Middle East and North Africa, and the
increasing significance of the cultural and civilisational dimensions
in global competition today.’
The head of state stressed that basic principles of Russia’s foreign
policy will remain unchanged.
`Above all, these are the principles of openness, predictability,
pragmatism, a focus on results, and protection of our national
interests – without confrontation of any kind,’ he said.

Where Are They Now?: George Donikian

891 ABC Adelaide (Australia)
10/02/2013

by Suzy Ramone

George Donikian is well known to TV viewers as news reader on SBS
(originally Channel 0) and then Channel 9 and Channel 10. His parents
migrated to Australia for a better life and as a boy, George learned
Greek, Armenian and Turkish and didn’t speak English until the age of
7.

Being multi-lingual made him a good choice for the emerging
multicultural station and his pronunciation skills were put to good
use.

He reminisced about his career with Michael Smyth on 891 Drive on the
Where Are They Now segment, heard every Tuesday at 4.35PM.