$100 MLN IS REQUIRED FOR RESTORATION OF HEATING SYSTEM IN ARMENIA

YEREVAN, JULY 19. ARMINFO. According to the strategy of the energy
development of Armenia till 2025, the program on restoration of
the heating supply system starts in 2005. Deputy Minister of Energy
of the Republic of Armenia Areg Galstian stated during the seminar
“Energy Security of Armenia”.

According to him, the programs costs about $100 mln. The World
Bank will provide a part of these funds, and local communities and
condominiums will invest the remaining part. The whole program is to
be completed till 2016, he said.

It should be noted that the World Bank’s Board of Directors approved
recently an Urban Heating Project for Armenia in the amount of
US$15 mln. The development objective of this four-year project is
to increase the use of clean, efficient, safe and affordable heating
technologies in urban schools and multi-unit apartment buildings. The
best scenario is to promote efficient and safe mini boilers. A $6 mln
credit will be provided to this end to be provided through the fund
of renewable energy to commercial banks (at LIBOR+1%) and later to
condominiums for purchasing or leasing minim boilers at market rates.
$4 mln will be allocated to provide heating to 10,000 poorest families
– 10% of the country’s poor population. Beneficiary to the program
are 100 schools outside Yerevan. Almost $3 mln of the UNDP/GEF grant
funds will be spent on the development of technical standards for
ensuring the safety of gas supplies in multi-unit apartment buildings.

Presently for lack of centralized heating Armenian residents heat
their houses with electricity or natural gas. The lack of standards
and efficient control has led to increasing gas accidents in the last
years. The $15 mln credit will be provided under IDA conditions for
40 years at 0.75% with a 10-year grace period. Since 1992 the WB has
carried out and is carrying out in Armenia 40 programs worth a total
of $896 mln.