WORLD FINANCIAL CRISIS ABLE TO STOP DESTRUCTION OF TEGHUT FORESTS: OPPOSITIONAL POLITICIAN

ArmInfo
2008-11-10 12:42:00

ArmInfo. Among the all the negative consequences of the world
financial crisis there is only one light point for Armenia – I think
we shall succeed in saving Teghut, and a new deposit will not be
put into operation, Head of the parliamentary faction of "Heritage"
oppositional party Armen Martirosyan told ArmInfo when commenting on
a draft budget for 2009 introduced in the parliament.

‘I do not think we shall bear great losses, as even in case of Teghut
operation, the annual receipts to the state budget in the form of
taxes will not exceed $10 mln. However, our mistake is that we do not
try to obtain a final product selling only a green ore, since VAT is
imposed on ore enrichment in Armenia , and a paradoxical situation is
created when it is more profitable for us to export an ore in the form
of a concentrate abroad for processing than process on-site. In this
context, the share of the metal mining industry in 2007 in a total
12% volume of the industrial production growth made up 11% in all’,
he said. The MP thinks that Armenia’s budget will not depend so much
on export of ore and other raw material, as its prices have strongly
dropped and keep on dropping. ‘I think the problem is that the prices
fall and the production will drop either, that will inevitably cause
reduction of workplaces.

A deposit is developed in the territory of Teghut, the right for
operation of which belongs to the copper company Armenian Copper
Programme.

Implementation of the programme of operation of Teghut deposit supposes
of about 58,000 cub m of forests in a territory of 357 hectares.