FUNDS MAY DISAPPEAR

A1+
April 21, 2009

"Why should the government be responsible for revising funds for
the population?" said RA Deputy Minister of Urban Development Karlen
Gevorgyan in response to the question whether any measures are taken
to update funds for the population.

Eighty-five percent of the buildings in Armenia were built during
the Soviet years and the buildings constructed during the years of
independence make up only 15 percent. In other words, 85% trace back
to decades ago and it turns out that the state is not responsible
for any accidents.

If the building is destroyed and, say, 40 people remain in ruins,
where is the government to blame?

"That is a different story. First of all, we must check to see what
caused the destruction. If a multi-story building in Yerevan collapses,
the first people to blame are the residents. Residents underestimate
their property by not keeping their items well-furnished," said
Karlen Gevorgyan.

He then went on to say why the government is not obligated to set
foundations for the buildings.

"Do you pay the government money before selling your house? Why should
the government give you new items?

Doesn’t the government take care of citizens’ safety? In response to
that he said:

"That is why we must strengthen the potential of administration
bodies. There is a lack of relationship between residents and
government bodies."

In that case, why do RA citizens make payments? The payments for
each person based on districts, such as Kentron or Arabkir, are more
expensive and go up to 1,000 drams and even more.

"Yes, if we take a look at how much money is collected from multi-story
buildings, it is a lot of money and they are not used wisely. That
is why it is our purpose to regulate funds for preserving multi-story
buildings and strengthen government bodies," said Karlen Gevorgyan.

The Deputy Minister also said that studies and conclusions on
the technical state of buildings must be conducted once every
10 years. "A1+" conducted a small survey and as a result, nobody
mentioned anything about an expert visiting their house.

"Residents must raise that issue. It is your property and you must
take care of it," said Kareln Gevorgyan.

The government does not provide funding for renovating
buildings. "There are 30,000 homeless families of which 7,000 live in
the disaster zone. In addition to that, we have refugees, liberation
fighters, orphans. The government has set the issue to provide these
people with homes," said the Deputy Minister as he presented the plans
of the government. This year the Ministry of Urban Development has
a plan to provide nearly 700 families with homes and as the deputy
minister said, the plan is in progress and 30 families have funds to
try to get homes.

It turns out that the government does not have a plan for providing
the homeless with homes. "The main emphasis is placed on financial
assistance so that they will be able to buy homes at market prices,"
There are also construction projects through credit in Tsaghkahovit
and Stepanavan with the purpose of constructing 1000 apartments with
the disaster zone project.

"The Ministry does not have a construction firm through which it will
be able to implement construction. The Ministry concedes funds and
oversees quality of construction," said Karlen Gevorgyan.