CENN – OCTOBER 12, 2004 DAILY DIGEST
Table of Contents:
1. BP Awards Contracts for Environmental Investment Program along the
BTC Pipeline Route
2. Azerbaijan: Tourist Industry’s Own Goal
3. RUSAL Raises Investments in Foil Unit to $70 mln
4. Negotiations for Provision of Funds Under US Program Millennium
Challenges Continue Rather Successfully
5. Armenian Delegation to Take Part in Exhibition Conference Dedicated
to Tourism Development in Arab World
6. Armenia Has Chances to Became A Regional Youth Center, Youth Alliance
Chairman Says
7. ATP to Inaugurate Ohanian Environmental Education Center in Karin
8. The Future Alternative Energy in Armenia
9. EU is Urging Ukrainian Authorities to Postpone Completion of a
Shipping Canal in the Danube Delta, Citing Environmental Concerns
1. BP AWARDS CONTRACTS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL INVESTMENT PROGRAM ALONG THE
BTC PIPELINE ROUTE
BP as operator of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil export pipeline and
South Caucasus (SCP) gas pipeline projects is pleased to announce that
in September 2004 it has awarded a contract to the international NGO,
Save the Children, to implement the “Management of Small Grants Program
for NGO Capacity Building along the SCP and BTC Pipeline Routes”. This
is the third contract awarded in Georgia in the framework of the
Environmental Investment Program (EIP) for the BTC and SCP projects.
The principal objective of the EIP is the delivery of actions that are
of benefit in the promotion and conservation of biodiversity. The US$3
million EIP is divided into the number of themes, which were identified
through the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment studies and
through a transparent process of consultations with the national and
international stakeholders.
The overall goal of the project is to develop NGO’s capacities to engage
citizens in environmental awareness and education, and in social
development. To this end, the NGO sector will be strengthened in the
districts through which the BTC and SCP pipelines run. Six NGOs will be
selected and their capacity to function as long term Intermediary
Support Organizations will be built through Tailored Assistance
Packages, enabling them to provide training, information, facilities,
communications and office equipment, and any number of other services
that facilitate primary level NGOs to focus on their mandate of serving
people and the environment.
Through a locally based and transparent decision making process, another
26 NGOs will be grant aided to undertake projects addressing
environmental and /or social development needs. Such projects will have
to incorporate public education/awareness and participation components.
These 26 primary level NGOs will be supported throughout by the six
Intermediary Support Organizations. Extensive training to all will be
Save the Children and its partners.
Project activities commenced in September 2004 and will finish in
December 2006.
We believe that the Small Grants Program for NGOs Capacity Building
gives BP and the recipient NGOs a unique opportunity to develop the
skill base necessary to make a positive difference to the long-term
preservation of Georgia’s wildlife.
2. AZERBAIJAN: TOURIST INDUSTRY’S OWN GOAL
Source: Caucasus Reporting Service, October 6m, 2004
The room was already cold, so the draught that poured through the cracks
in the frame of the broad but rather murky windows only added to the
gloomy atmosphere inside. Its resident, Barbara Harrell-Bond, an
American writer and frequent visitor to Azerbaijan, is not impressed by
having to pay 80 US dollars a night for the privilege of staying in this
hotel in the centre of the capital Baku.
“I would like them to give me more comfort and more services for this
price,” she said, adding that the accommodation compared unfavorably
with that in neighboring Georgia, where she paid 50 dollars a day and
enjoyed a far higher quality stay.
Another American journalist, Harry Carpenter, eventually abandoned the
same establishment for a higher-priced privately-run hotel in the city,
where he received much better service.
According to Azerbaijan’s ministry of youth, sport and tourism, the
country has 240 hotels of various types, 37 of which are in the capital
and provide accommodation for 5,320 guests, which is clearly inadequate
in a city of nearly three million people which is currently enjoying an
oil boom.
This problem could come to a head very soon, as thousands of football
fans are expected to descend on the capital – and they will be looking
for places to stay.
On October 9, 2004 Azerbaijan’s national team plays Northern Ireland at
home in a qualifying match for the 2006 World Cup. Four days later, the
England football team arrives in Baku – and many of its supporters will
be hot on their heels.
However, most of the hotels in Baku are already almost completely booked
up.
Analysts fear that this lack of hotel places could seriously hamper the
development of a tourist industry in Azerbaijan. Economist Yelena
Starostina told IWPR that heavy investment and long-term planning will
be needed for a tourist infrastructure to develop. She said that
Azerbaijan badly needs private hotels to develop alongside and compete
with the country’s 80 state or recently privatised establishments.
“The state has shown itself to be extremely ineffective in running this
sector,” Starostina said. “Of course the state budget receives some
income from the hotels, but only if they make an official profit. “The
profit was a little more than 200 million manats (around 40,000 dollars)
last year, but it could be much more if it was generated by private
hotels as well.”
Mamed Orujev, who runs a private summer hotel on the Caspian Sea, said,
“I have been working with guest houses for 20 years now and I could
easily open a small private hotel in the capital. But unfortunately we
are not used to this kind of thing in our country.”
Of the country’s privatized hotels, once run by the state, Orujev said,
“The overwhelming majority either practically don’t work or give very
poor service.”
But Ilgar Nuri, administrator of one such privatized hotel, rejects
these accusations. “Today we have normal hotels and visitors want to
stay in them, not in private establishments,” he said.
Some analysts suspect that the state-sponsored hotels are simply wary of
any competition that would offer guests better accommodation at lower
prices. At the moment, no state programmes exist to develop private
hotels, and it is very difficult for potential hotel owners to get
official registration.
However the government has recently begun a drive to improve the
country’s hotels by introducing a certification programme.
Tourism industry spokesperson Abulfas Garayev said that the process
would be voluntary at first, and said that the certification commission
– which consists of both government and independent specialists – was
starting with the top echelon of hotels. Ten of them, including the
Hyatt Park and Crescent Beach, will be given a ranking in stars by the
end of the year.
Garayev said that if the commission identified problems with a hotel, it
would be allowed one month to correct them, before it was issued with
its star ranking.
Those hotels that did not come up to scratch will not be ignored,
Garayev warned. From 2006 on, measures will be taken against them to
force them to raise their standards, and information on those that do
not pass the certification procedure will be given to international
tourist firms.
In the meantime, the authorities say that they are determined to deal
with low-standard and potentially dangerous hotels.
Murad Husseinov, head of the fire department at the Azerbaijani interior
ministry, warned that most hotels are not properly equipped to deal with
fire and recommends that between three and five per cent of money spent
on hotel construction should go towards fire safety.
And health ministry spokesman Viktor Kasumov added that steps are being
taken to improve the low standard of sanitation in Azerbaijani hotels.
“This is unacceptable in a situation where there is a rise in the number
of infectious diseases here,” he said.
3. RUSAL RAISES INVESTMENTS IN FOIL UNIT TO $70 MLN
Source: Reuters, October 8, 2004
Russian top aluminium producer RUSAL will increase investments in
modernization of its Armenian foil unit, ARMENAL, to $70 million from
previously planned $34 million, RUSAL said on Friday.
“More sizeable than initially planned the programme will allow RUSAL
ARMENAL to improve the quality of foil products and raise the plant’s
profitability,” A RUSAL statement said.
RUSAL will invest $25 million of its own funds into the Armenian plant
and will take a $45 million long-term loan from a group of German banks,
headed by Bayerische Landesbank.
RUSAL has appointed German firm Achenbach GmbH as contractor to produce
a feasibility study and to implement the modernization programme.
The upgrade will permit ARMENAL to produce up to 25,000 tonnes of foil
per year including 18,000 tonnes of expensive thin foil. The first 150
tonnes of foil will be produced by the end of 2005.
ARMENAL produced 9,614 tonnes of foil in the first nine months of 2003.
The plant has been idle since November 2003.
4. NEGOTIATIONS FOR PROVISION OF FUNDS UNDER US PROGRAM MILLENNIUM
CHALLENGES CONTINUE RATHER SUCCESSFULLY
Source: Arminfo, October 8, 2004
The negotiations for provision of funds under the US program Millennium
Challenges continue rather successfully, Chairman of the Parliamentary
Commission for Credit-and-Finance, Budgetary and Economic Issues Gagik
Minasyan told ARMINFO.
However, Mr. Minasyan refrained himself from stating anything specific.
It should be noted that the Armenian Government submitted a package of
programs for a total of $900 mln to consideration of the corporation
Millennium Challenges. It should be noted that according to preliminary
estimations by Minister of Finance and Economy of Armenia Vardan
Khachatryan, under the program Millennium Challenges, Armenia expected
$700 mln, with first $100 mln of them by the end of 2004. On the whole,
the funds under the program are provided to stimulate political
freedoms; juts state governance and investments in human factor –
education, public health, and social sphere.
5. ARMENIAN DELEGATION TO TAKE PART IN EXHIBITION-CONFERENCE DEDICATED
TO TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN ARAB WORLD
Source: Arminfo, October 8, 2004
Official ceremony of opening of a conference-exhibition dedicated to the
tourism development in Arab world was held in Beirut on October 7, 2004
under the patronage of the president of Lebanon. Besides the
representatives from Cyprus, Egypt, Lebanon, India, Indonesia, Jordan,
Kuwait, Malaysia, Morocco, Oman, Syria, Tunisia and United Arab
Emirates, a delegation from Armenia takes part in the
conference-exhibition for the first time. ARMINFO was informed in the
press office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia.
Representatives of the Armenian agency of tourism development, travel
agency “Yerkir-Nairi”, of hotels “Europe” and “Ani-Plaza”,
representatives of Ararat and Vayots Dzor regions of Armenia were in the
Armenian delegation staff. The conference-exhibition was organized by
the Ministry of tourism of the Lebanon and the company “Al Iktisad va al
Amal Group”. President of the Lebanon Emil Lahoud held the official
opening ceremony.
6. ARMENIA HAS CHANCES TO BECOME A REGIONAL YOUTH CENTER, YOUTH ALLIANCE
CHAIRMAN SAYS
Source: Armenpress, October 8, 2004
Supported by the European Council Youth Foundation, the Armenian
Alliance of Youth Clubs organized a seminar titled “Impact of conflicts
on environment” in Sevan on October 5-11, which discussed regional
conflicts. Delegates from Azerbaijan, Georgia and a number of European
countries participate in the seminar.
The chairman of the alliance, Atom Mkhitarian, mentioned that Europe
wants to see a coordinated youth policy in the region. The fact that
delegates from Azerbaijan also participate indicates that Armenia has a
chance to become a regional youth center that will contribute to
implementation of many youth projects.
The governor of Gegharkunik Stepan Barseghian spoke about the damages
caused to the region by the Karabagh conflict, saying that both the
economy and the ecology suffered from it. According to him, unemployment
is high in the region as some 15,000 refugees live there. Concurrently,
it was mentioned that agriculture has been developing in the region
recently. A whole-sale agricultural market is built near Georgian border
in Bagratashen where the farmers may realize their output.
In S. Barseghian’s opinion the war has changed the images of trust among
the regional nations and such seminars may help to recover it. Highly
evaluating the organization of the seminar, representatives from
Azerbaijan noted that special attention should be paid to environmental
protection issues. In their opinion, because the land is mined in the
conflict zone, it is impossible to use for agricultural purposes. Such
contacts may help to build understanding between the two nations when
the Karabagh conflict is resolved, they said.
7. ATP TO INAUGURATE OHANIAN ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER IN KARIN
ARMENIA TREE PROJECT
57/5 Arshakunyats Street
Yerevan, Armenia 375026
Contact: Bella Avetisyan
Telephone: (374 1) 44-74-01
PRESS RELEASE
October 8, 2004
YEREVAN–Armenia Tree Project (ATP) is planning to inaugurate its
Michael and Virginia Ohanian Environmental Education Center in Karin,
Armenia, on Tuesday, October 12.
The establishment of this ATP educational center is the result of a
generous donation from Mrs. Virginia Ohanian of Belmont, Massachusetts,
in memory of her late husband, the late Michael Ohanian. Mrs. Ohanian
has been a devoted supporter of ATP for many years.
ATP established its tree nursery in Karin in 1996. As part of ATP’s
expansion of its programs, the organization has added environmental and
forestry education to its mission. Immediately after Mrs. Ohanian
learned about this program, this educational center was proposed and
established on the nursery site.
Already, nursery director Samvel Ghandilyan has taught six sessions of
courses with over 130 students this year at the Ohanian Education
Center. Most of the students have come from the Agricultural Academy, as
well as the local schools in Karin.
Mrs. Ohanian will be present at the inauguration, along with a number of
other ATP’s diasporan supporters traveling with the Armenian Assembly of
America Trustees’ Delegation to Armenia. After a ribbon cutting and
ceremonial tree planting by Mrs. Ohanian and her family, attendees will
be able to meet with ATP staff and tour the nursery, followed by a
luncheon.
The program, which will begin at 12:00 noon, will also include brief
remarks by ATP Executive Director Jeffrey Masarjian, along with a
presentation of the film created this year in celebration of ATP’s 10th
anniversary about the backyard reforestation nursery project in Aygut,
Armenia.
In addition to the nursery output and the critical environmental
education lessons provided for a wide range of students, one of the
highlights of the Ohanian Education Center is the Tree of Life–an 8-foot
bronze sculpture which includes the names of ATP’s Major Donors on each
leaf.
Armenia Tree Project was founded in 1994 during Armenia’s darkest and
coldest years with the vision of securing Armenia’s future by protecting
Armenia’s environment. Funded by contributions from diasporan
Armenians, ATP has planted and rejuvenated over 530,000 trees at more
than 450 sites ranging from Gyumri to Goris.
For additional information about this event, the Michael and Virginia
Ohanian Environmental Education Center, the Karin Nursery, or other
ATP programs, please contact Bella Avetisyan at trees@arminco.com or
visit
IMPRESSIONS MAGAZINE
September/October/November 2004
8. THE FUTURE OF ALTERNATIVE ENERGY IN ARMENIA
Source :IMPRESSIONS MAGAZINE ,
September/October/November 2004
With its Soviet-built nuclear power plant nearing the end of its life
and international pressure to `go green’, Armenia has the opportunity to
position itself at the forefront of environmentally friendly energy
production. Matthew Karanian and Robert Kurkjian explore the wind, water
and solar options available and assess their viability.
During the 1990s, Armenia grappled with how to resolve its energy
shortages.Since then, its nuclear power plant has been restarted,
financial and technical assistance has come from the international
community, natural gas imports have increased and the energy crisis has
been mitigated.
The country now relies upon a variety of sources, with nuclear energy
accounting for about 35% of its energy needs, but over the past few
years there has been increased pressure from the European Community to
shut the nuclear plant down.
The Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant is operated by a Russian company and
has two reactors with projected useful lives that will expire in a
decade. Only one of the reactors is operating, and there are many
reasons for shutting it down and keeping the other closed.
The most persuasive of these arguments is that the reactors sit in a
seismically active zone near a densely populated area, and they don’t
have a containment dome that would prevent the release of radiation
during an uncontrolled event.
The government has been studying energy issues since Armenia’s
independence.
Back in 1996, it projected that alternative sources of energy might be
developed within the next six to eight years.
At that time it was thought that those alternative sources might be
enough to make it possible to shut down the nuclear power plant as early
as 2004. Those alternative sources have not been developed – at least
not to the extent necessary for them to be considered a genuine
alternative to nuclear power.
Thermal power plants in Armenia, using a combination of oil and natural
gas, fuel approximately 45% of the country’s needs and hydropower
provides the balance. Strictly speaking, these are alternatives to
nuclear power, but the cleanest, most cutting edge alternative energy
sources available today are solar and wind.
These sources, also referred to as `renewable energy’, are cleaner than
traditional sources, such as coal or oil combustion. Solar and wind
power do have an impact upon our environment, but they don’t pollute the
atmosphere during operation. Instead, the environmental impact is from
the perceived blight upon the landscape created by a field of wind
turbines or solar panels.
Wind turbines have also been known to be harmful to birds and can be
noisy, but such environmental problems are relatively insignificant
compared to the problems that are created by nuclear and thermal energy
generation.
WIND ENERGY
Armenia doesn’t have a wind stream that is comparable to the Gulf Stream
that exists in the US, but there is nevertheless some wind potential.
Armenia is a mountainous country and strong winds frequently develop on
mountain ridges or in the saddles of mountain passes. Indeed, some of
these local wind currents are legendary.
According to fable, the stones of Armenia’s hot Ararat Plain were cooled
by a unique airflow pattern. 1700 years ago, that swept down from the
northern mountains and from the Lake Sevan region. The wind supposedly
made life a bit more comfortable for an embattled man named Gregory, who
was confined to a prison there. This man would later become a Saint, and
the wind pattern has since been known as the Saint Gregory Wind.
At present, it is estimated that the economically viable capacity for
wind energy is approximately equal to that of nuclear, about 500 MW, but
wind energy development in Armenia is in its infancy.
As part of a project funded by Gerard Cafesjian, an Armenian- American
philanthropist, engineers are studying the economic viability of
wind-generated electricity in Armenia. Testing is ongoing, but if wind
power proves to be feasible, then Armenia could add wind-generated
electricity to its portfolio of energy sources.
Windmills – actually large wind turbines – are sleek and aerodynamic.
They are made of aluminum, steel or plastic and often operate in large
fields. A wind-generated electricity project in Palm Springs,
California, for example, uses a field of 7,500 windmills. It’s too
costly to use one windmill to generate electricity for commercial
purposes, but a single windmill can power a mechanical pump, which is
how they are sometimes used in the US and places with extensive rural
areas – Argentina, for example, has an estimated 320,000 solo windmills
in operation.
Armenia has large tracts of rural areas, but one of the legacies of
Soviet industrialisation is that nearly every place in Armenia has
access to the electricity grid, so a remote location that might
otherwise need to generate its own energy simply doesn’t need to. The
future for wind power in Armenia, therefore, is in large wind farms that
generate electricity that is then added to the grid. The Armenian
government hopes one day to be able to generate as much as 10% of its
electricity in this way.
HYDRO POWER
Hydro power generates approximately 20% of Armenia’s energy needs.
Although this form of power generation does not emit atmospheric
pollution, there can be significant environmental impacts. The greatest
impacts are on water quality and quantity, and changes to the
surrounding environment. This is usually due to the construction of
dams, which causes flooding above the dam, and decreases the water flow
downstream.
Lake Sevan’s waters have been used for decades to generate electricity,
but at a cost to the lake’s ecosystem. The increased out-flow of the
lake’s water for use in hydroelectric generation has contributed to the
lake’s deterioration by reducing its volume by roughly 40%, increasing
the water temperature and impacting the fishing industry.
SOLAR ENERGY
Energy from the sun is typically more affordable than wind power for
individual residences. Solar is particularly economical for heating
water, and actually beats many energy alternatives, though widespread
implementation could take decades to achieve. Solar energy generation
capacity in Armenia is currently around 650 MW, but estimates for future
capacity are as high as 3,500 MW.
Dr Artak Hambarian, Director of the Engineering Research Center (ERC) at
the American University of Armenia (AUA), has been researching solar
energy and its applications for years. He estimates that it could take a
business 20 or 30 years to earn enough savings in energy costs to pay
for its investment in solar panels that are used to create electricity.
For nearly a decade, the ERC has been engaged in a variety of solar
energy related projects. Its project of perhaps greatest national
significance is its Solar Monitoring Station (SMS), which collects solar
radiation data to assist with evaluating and developing solar energy
devices.
Based on data from the SMS, engineers have calculated that one square
metre of land in Yerevan receives about 1,700 kWh of sun power annually.
It is said that Yerevan is sunny for 300 days each year, and at this
rate there is a great incentive for people to install solar panels on
the roofs of their homes in order to heat water. Additional solar data
collectors are proposed for installation at several locations around the
country to further research the applications of solar energy.
Limited practical applications of solar energy have proven cost-
effective for the AUA in recent years. The university is supplied with
hot water and with heating and cooling by a project that engineers from
ERC are working on. The project is known as DESODEC – the `Design and
Installation of a Solar Driven Desiccant Cooling Demonstration System.’
They have a solar water heater on the roof of the University’s six-floor
building, and the solar heater, together with the Desiccant Evaporative
Cooling system, provide the University with heat in the winter, and
cooling in the summer.
A solar photovoltaic system, also installed on the roof, provides
electricity to the system that makes the university building independent
from the electricity grid, and which serves to back-up the university
internet servers. The DESODEC is the first solar driven combined system
in the former Soviet Union, and one of a handful in the world.
WHO WILL BENEFIT FROM ALTERNATIVE ENERGY?
The thermal, nuclear and hydro facilities that Armenia inherited from
the Soviet Union now generate so much electricity that Armenia has been
able to sell some of it to the Republic of Georgia. But if Armenia were
to halt its nuclear program, could wind and solar generated power be
sold commercially, at a profit? How would the cost of producing wind or
solar energy compare with the cost of the existing nuclear energy
production in Armenia? According to energy consultant Serge Adamian, it
is not meaningful to compare the nuclear example with solar or wind
sources because Armenia isn’t paying for the nuclear power plant. It was
already there when the country gained independence, so comparing wind
and nuclear energy is therefore the `wrong paradigm,’ he says. Armenia’s
nuclear power plant is nearing the end of its productive life, and there
are other serious issues to consider, such as waste disposal and safety.
Analysts expect that the plant will be shut down within a decade, and
there is not a high probability of a new one being built.
All of this means that alternative sources may not be fully exploitable
today, but they will represent a far more practical solution if and when
Armenia scraps nuclear power. Over time, Adamian says, wind and solar
production will attract more support from the government and from
others. Iran’s support in 2004 for a wind farm on Lake Sevan’s
south-eastern shore is one such example.
The continued development and installation of alternative energy
resources will also lessen Armenia’s reliance on imported fossil fuel.
Air quality in Armenia will improve and there will be a reduction in
greenhouse gas emissions – two peripheral but significant advantages.
With an appropriate and comprehensive strategy, Armenia has an
opportunity to enter the international renewable energy market. In
contrast to other established industrial markets, the renewable energy
industry has not yet matured worldwide, which could provide an
opportunity for Armenia’s scientists, its manufacturing industry, and
associated businesses. The people of Armenia ultimately stand to
benefit.
9. EU IS URGING UKRAINIAN AUTHORITIES TO POSTPONE COMPLETION OF A
SHIPPING CANAL IN THE DANUBE DELTA, CITING ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS
Source: ENWL-eng, October 12, 2004
The European Union is urging Ukrainian authorities to postpone
completion of a shipping canal in the Danube Delta, citing environmental
concerns.
A statement from a EU expert panel that visited Ukraine this month urged
authorities not to launch the second phase of the project of deepening
and widening the 170-kilometer (105-mile) canal through the Danube’s
Bystre Estuary, one of Europe’s most important wetland sites.
The team, which also included U.N. environmental experts, urged
Ukrainian authorities to address the challenges related to many
environmental effects and trans-boundary impacts of such projects, the
statement issued Friday said.
The building of the channel linking the Black Sea and the Danube has
already drawn criticism from U.S. and European officials and has led to
a dispute between Ukraine and neighboring Romania, which repeatedly has
demanded a halt to the work.
At a conference in Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odessa last week, more
than 40 environmentalist organizations from Europe, Ukraine and Russia
warned the canal was built in a way that would endanger the environment.
Ukrainian authorities have so far refused to stop the project, arguing
that the canal is needed to improve access to the Black Sea and boost
the local economy.
The Danube Delta is divided between Romania, which has more than 90
percent of the territory with some 580,000 hectares (about 1.5 million
acres), and Ukraine, which has 46,000 hectares (113,600 acres).