Armenian opposition official criticizes handover of power plant to Russia
Arminfo
14 Apr 06
Yerevan, 14 April: At a briefing in the parliament today, the
secretary of the opposition Justice bloc, Viktor Dallakyan, sharply
criticized the sale of the fifth unit of the Razdan thermal power
plant to Russia’s Gazprom as compensation for softening the
consequences of the rise in Russian gas prices.
Dallakyan said that Iran had offered a more advantageous option for
investing in the fifth unit of the Razdan power plant. Iran offered
Armenia a 150m-dollar loan for completing the unit and 90m dollars for
building a high voltage line and would be obliged to buy electricity
generated by the power plant. As a result of this deal, Armenia would
have made a profit of 100m dollars per year. Most importantly, the
unit would have remained Armenia’s property. However, Armenia refused
to accept such a profitable deal in favour of Russian interests.
“The Armenian authorities signed an absolutely unfavourable deal with
Russia, under which Armenia will get only 250m dollars and lose
ownership rights to the unit. Russia aims to make Armenia
dependant. And this is not only against Armenia’s energy security but
also its national security,” Dallakyan said.