THREE VERSIONS DEVELOPED FOR FINANCING CONSTRUCTION IN EARTHQUAKE ZONE
NOYAN TAPAN
JU NE 25
6,985 homeless citizens, including 1,800 single elderly persons are
currently registered in the earthquake zone.
Approximately 77 bln drams (about 252 mln USD) is needed to provide
them with apartments, the prime minister Tigran Sargsian said at the
June 25 sitting of the interdepartmental commission which was set up
with the aim of developing and implementing programs on provision of
apartments to the families left homeless by the 1988 earthquake.
Accoring to him, three versions have been developed for financing
the construction of apartments for homeless people. By one version,
the state will hold a tender for a private construction organization
and assume an obligation to allocate sums from the state budget to
this organization within 23 years. Every year the payments will be
made at market prices.
The second version envisages creation of a mortgage fund. In the words
of the chairman of the Central Bank of Armenia Arthur Javadian, the
fund, which will also have a state participation, will provide part of
the sum, then mortgage securities will be issued against this sum and
placed within a year, after which the fund will allocate the remaining
sum. It is envisaged providing the mortgage credit for 15 years at
9% interest rate. By calculations, construction of 1 square meter of
housing space will cost 235 thousand drams, which, in the opinion of
chairman of the State Committee of the RA Cadastre Manuk Vardanian,
is a very high price. The third version is provision of vouchers.
The RA minister of urban development Vardan Vardanian announced
that there are 619 incompleted construction facilities in Gyumri,
only 136 of which are fit for further construction. According to the
minister, if 60 fifty-apartment buildings are constructed in Gyumri,
the housing problem will be solved. However, the deputy mayor of
Gyumri Gagik Manukian said that none of these incomplete facilities
is fit for further construction.
It was decided to work out a concept on implementation of the above
mentioned work and solution of the problems by August 1 of this year.