From: [email protected]
Subject: Water Will Not Get Expensive But Over The Next Month Only
WATER WILL NOT GET EXPENSIVE BUT OVER THE NEXT MONTH ONLY
Lragir.am
28 April 06
The Public Utilities Commission, headed by the former mayor of Yerevan
Robert Nazaryan, was supposed to discuss the bid of Yerevan Water
Company on April 28. In other words, Robert Nazaryan and his
colleagues were supposed to discuss the new tariff of water. The
commission had even prepared the draft decision, and browsed on its
official website.
In the beginning of the meeting of the commission the head of the
State Water Committee under the government of Armenia Andranik
Andreasyan, apologizing to the participants, asked the commission to
postpone the meeting for a month. The official excuse is the procedure
of the management agreement, signed with the French company Generale
Des Eaux, which will take up the management of Yerevan Water Sewage
Company. Andranik Andreasyan says there are problems with transfers of
property, which requires additional time. In other words, the
agreement will take effect later than May 1, as it had been foreseen
in the agreement, as soon as the problems of transfers of property are
settled. Therefore the parties of the agreement asked the committee to
put off the meeting for a month. Robert Nazaryan asked Serge Popov,
the manager of Yerevan Water, to confirm that they accept the proposal
of the Water Committee. Popov confirmed saying that the proposal was
based on a mutual agreement. The meeting of the committee was
postponed.
`There is a huge problem of transfers of property, about 30 pieces of
property is being transferred, there are drawbacks regarding certain
elements, which need further elaboration. They have certain questions,
more elucidation and within these several days or a week these
questions will get answers. After all, a huge system is transferred,’
says Andranik Andreasyan.
The manager of Yerevan Water Serge Popov says the problems are typical
of big deals. Popov says Generale des Eaux has signed similar
contracts in the countries of East Europe where the period of transfer
of property was 6 months but an additional three months were
required. In Armenia the period mentioned in the contract was only 3
months. The problems are not unexpected, and the proposal of the
parties of contract is justified. Serge Popov says for a ten-year
contract 15 days is not a long time. Hence, Yerevan Water Company has
not started yet, which means that Yerevan Water Sewage Company still
operates, and the tariff remains the same.
Currently 1 cu. m of drinking water is 120 drams. The French suggest
increasing it to 172.8 drams. This price is written down in the
management contract as a source of investments. The Public Utilities
Commission has accepted the bid of Yerevan Water but partly, as it
usually does. However, this is not exactly the same as the previous
cases, for with regard to water the price is mentioned in the
contract. If the commission rejected the bid of the French company, it
would be considered a breach of the management contract.