WHAT DID THE GOVERNMENT TELL ROGER ROBINSON?

Lragir.am
28 April 06

The World Bank Armenia Country Manager Roger Robinson gave a news
conference on April 28 and gave reporters interesting ideas and
revelations on the fifth generating unit of the Thermal Power Plant of
Hrazdan.

Roger Robinson first stated that the government of Armenia is planning
to hold public debates on the deal on the fifth generating unit next
week, and to answer questions on this issue. Roger Robinson announced
that the government is responsible for people and has to report on its
steps. After this idea the interesting viewpoints of Robinson began.

He said that judging by the information he got from government
officials the deal was highly profitable for Armenia, and if the mass
media discussed these problems with the government, they would agree
and realize that it was a truly favorable deal for Armenia. He does
not consider it troubling that the entire energy sector of Armenia is
monopolized by another country. Roger Robinson says it is more
important to have a strong controller to maintain and control the
offered public utilities. He also calls for considering the reality.

According to Roger Robinson, the reality is that the main supplier of
fuel for energy generation, i.e. nuclear fuel, gas, is Russia. The
only resource Armenia has is water, or the snow that melts and fills
the rivers and is used in water power plants. The World Bank Armenia
Country Manager emphasizes the awareness of the reality which cannot
be changed in a couple of minutes.

Certainly, this reality cannot be changed in a several minutes, but it
can be changed over years. In the meantime, there is danger that the
Iran-Armenia gas pipeline that gave a hope of change may be given to
Russia. In this perspective it is interesting what the attitude of the
World Bank towards the new reality will be. With regard to this Roger
Robinson said the ownership of the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline is not
part of this deal.