RUSSIA TO ASSIST ARMENIA IN 1988 EARTHQUAKE ZONE HEATING SYSTEM REVIVAL

RIA Novosti, Russia
Dec 24 2004

YEREVAN, December 24 (RIA Novosti) – The Armenian government has given
consent for the Armenian Urban Planning Ministry and the Russian
Federal Agency for Construction, Housing and Utilities to sign an
agreement on cooperation in reconstruction work in Armenia’s Shirak
region, the Armenian governmental PR service reported.

In 2005-2006 Russia will assign about $4 million for Armenia to
reconstruct the heating systems of a number of facilities of the
country’s second largest city, Gyumri (former Leninakan), the center
of the Shirak region, Minister of Urban Planning Aram Arutyunyan
stated earlier.

According to the official, Russia and Armenia have reached preliminary
agreement, and the issue has been placed on the agenda of the
Russian-Armenian interstate commission for economic cooperation.

Among the facilities included in the program the minister mentioned
the Gyumri State Pedagogical Institute, a hospital, a physical culture
school, four churches and blocks of flats.

Gyumri is one of the cities most damaged in the devastating earthquake
which happened in December 1988 in Armenia.