BEFORE RENOVATING MONUMENTS, ROADS MUST BE RENOVATED
Panorama.am
15:07 13/11/2007
"Allocations from state budget for the recovery of historical and
cultural monuments have been provided since 2004. As a result,
12-13 historical monuments are renovated annually," department head
at the ministry of culture, Artiom Grigoryan, told Panorama.am. In
his words, the allocations from the state budget are increasing
year by year. In 2004, 50 mln was allocation, in 2005 – 530 million,
in 2006-720 million. "In 2007, less money, 660 million was allocated
and I cannot say anything about 2008 except for that the allocations
have gone down," Grigoryan said.
In fact, no separate allocations are made for roads leading to cultural
monuments. "Part of the money envisaged for monuments is used for
reconstruction of roads since we have a problem of transporting
construction materials to the monuments. The roads are in bad
conditions. It is impossible to drive. The roads are not asphalted
but are covered by soil.
Later, they may be covered with asphalt which will contribute to the
development of tourism," he mentioned.
In Grigoryan’s words, funds are released also by public organizations,
charity funds and individuals.
"Every year we monitor the monuments and choose the ones that need
the most renovation," he said.
This year 13 monuments have been renovated and another 10 are planned
for the next year.