CURRENT AND LONG-TERM PROJECTS IN THE FOCUS OF ATTENTION
Srbuhi Vanian
Azat Artsakh, Nagorno Karabakh Republic [NKR]
19 March 2006
Territorial management and development of infrastructures is one of
the broa d spheres of government’s activity. We tried to find out what
problems there are in this sphere and what efforts the government makes
to solve them during our interview with Armo Tsaturian, Minister of
territorial management and development of infrastructures. ENERGY. Armo
Tsaturian said this year 250 million drams is foreseen for the energy
sector. 40 million will be allocated to Stepanakert, 23 million to
Askeran region, 28 million to Martakert, 29 million to Martuni, 26
million to Hadrut, 6 million to Shushi and 54 million to Shahumian
regions. The rest will be spent on the reconstruction of the 35
kW substation of Maghavuz. With regard to specific programmes to be
implemented on this money, the minister said in Karabakh there are only
several communities in the regions of Kashatagh and Shahumian which do
no thave supply of electricity, therefore this sum will mainly be spent
on the reconstruction of substations. “In the post-war years there were
shortcomings in the operation of substations due to a lack of money,
and now these gaps need to be filled,” said Armo Tsaturian. According
to him, there is a lot of work to do at the substation of Sarsang,
as well as it is necessary to replace transmission lines and towers,
which often cause fires and accidents. The minister thinks that the
money provided from the state budget is not enough for the whole
work (by his estimate 800 million drams is required). Last year the
money spent on the energy sector was more, 400 million drams, and the
minister said the expenditure was targeted. On the whole, the minister
assessed the work of Artsakhenergo as positive. Armo Tsaturian said
the losses in the grid were reduced thanks to the measures taken by
the company, the collection of payments for electricity increased as
well. GASIFICATION. The government has adopted a 2001 – 2010 policy of
gasification. The gasifying of the country is planned to be finished
in 2010. This year the government will allocate 400 million drams for
gasifying. 150 million will be provided for the regions of Martuni
and Hadrut each.
Less money is foreseen for Stepanakert, Shushi and Askeran. Armo
Tsaturian, Minister of Territorial Management and Development of
Infrastructures, said the town of Berdzor, Kashatagh region was
included in the gasification program.
The government will provide 50 million drams for Kashatagh. This
year less money was provided for gasifying compared to the previous
year. In 2005 455 million drams was invested in the energy sector,
332.2 million was provided from the state budget, the rest was
invested by Artsakhgas. Last year the amount of consumed gas totaled
16.2 million cubic meters, increasing by 21.8 per cent since the year
2004. There are no final figures for this year. TRANSPORT.
The state of transport is serious. The minister of territorial
management and development of infrastructures Armo Tsaturian said
the problems are many.
The routes have not been regulated duly. In Stepanakert certain routes
are overloaded, whereas in the suburbs people often have to wait for
an hour for their only or a pair of minibuses. Safe transportation of
passengers is another issue. The minister said in August the minibus
routes will be put out to tender. Armo Tsaturian said with regard
to this there will occur problems because in accordance with the law
the cars aged 15 and more cannot participate in the tender. Besides,
the companies that participate in the tender must own 60 per cent of
the car pool. Such companies will hardly be found in the republic.
This has caused anxiety among companies because their car pools are
old. We have information that a complaint was lodged with the National
Assembly, signed by 70 drivers. Minister Armo Tsaturian mentioned
that they had not received such a letter of complaint but they are
ready to study and discuss the issue with the parliament. In answer
to our anxiety that people’s security is concerned and any concession
may harm their security, the minister said it is impossible to give
a hasty answer to such an urgent issue. Armo Tsaturian said there
will hopefully be interesting proposals during the debates at the
National Assembly. He said the distribution of the minibus routes
will be carried out by the City Hall. “The relevant department of
the Ministry cooperates with the City Hall to settle this issue,”
he said. The coach routes are also a problem. According to Armo
Tsaturian, despite the lack of money, the government tries to provide
every community with transport. Since the government has a program of
development of tourism, which would be greatly promoted by airlines,
we wondered if the government takes any steps to provide this type
of communication. Armo Tsaturian says this question has a political
context rather than an economic one, and he thinks that its solution
is related with the settlement of the Karabakh conflict, for our plane
would have to cross the airspace of Azerbaijan, which is not safe. The
minister said, however, that certain companies are already interested
in this, although the minister thinks it is early to consider the
ways of solving this question. TOURISM. This year for the first time
the government adopted a programme of development of tourism, which
supposes the establishment of an information and promotion system,
provides for the participation of NKR in different expositions,
and cooperation.
The government has allocated 2 million drams for this purpose. The
Artsakh Development Agency participated in Armenian Expo 2005
in Yerevan and presented the opportunities of tourism in Nagorno
Karabakh Republic. Recently the Ministry of Territorial Management
of Development of Infrastructures has started cooperating with
the Agency on Development of Tourism in Armenia. They arranged to
include information about the opportunities of tourism in Artsakh
in their programmes and to promote them outside Armenia. Besides,
Artsakh Development Agency is working out an information base, one
of the directions of which will be the opportunities of tourism
in NKR. TELECOM. Karabakh Telecom and establishment of cellular
communication in NKR marked the beginning of fundamental reforms in
the sphere of telecommunication. Although, according to the minister
of territorial management and development of infrastructures said,
recently the quality of cellular communication, as well as the
fixed-line telephone has gone down. Armo Tsaturian said soon the
digitalization of the fixed-line telephone in Stepanakert will
start. Negotiations with Karabakh Telecom began last year. The
renovation of the fixed-line telephone network in the country will
cost 4.5 million dollars. As to cellular communication, Armo Tsaturian
said 2-2.5 million dollars will be invested in this sphere. Last year
Karabakh Telecom invested 60 million drams. The number of cellular
base stations reached 17 from 14. This year another 7 base stations
will be placed. Armo Tsaturian said the availability of the Public TV
channels of Armenia and Artsakh grew from 80 to 90-95 per cent. The
minister said the government intends to involve private companies
to carry out reforms in this sphere. The aim of the programme is to
enable people watch more and higher quality programmes.