UNITED STATES RELEASED OVER $37 MILLION TO ARMENIA AS PART OF MCA PROGRAM

ARKA
October13, 2009
Yerevan

YEREVAN, October 13, /ARKA/. U.S. ambassador to Armenia Marie
Yovanovitch said today the government of the United States has released
so far $36 million to Armenia within the frameworks of the Millennium
Challenge Account program.

Speaking at the opening of a two-day exhibition devoted to From Water
to Market component of the program, she said the Millennium Challenges
Corporation (MCC) will invest $180 million in Armenia in the next
two years before MCA program is over. The exhibition is timed to the
third anniversary of the program’s component.

The ambassador said last month the MCC decided to release $36
million to Armenia to rehabilitate 17 pumping stations as part of the
MCA-Armenia’s Irrigation Infrastructure Project. These works represent
the largest single contract under the Irrigation Infrastructure
Project and play a significant role in helping to reduce rural
poverty in Armenia by increasing the economic performance of its
agricultural sector.

Rehabilitation of these 17 pumping stations will provide reliable
irrigation water, increased electricity efficiency and improved
agricultural productivity to over 182,000 beneficiaries in 100
communities throughout Ararat, Armavir, Aragatsotn, Gegharkunik,
Tavush and Syunik marzes.

Currently, over 31,000 hectares of arable land receive water from
these pumping stations, which serve as the only sou rce of irrigation,
especially for household plots.

Additional works under the MCA-Armenia’s Irrigation Infrastructure will
involve the rehabilitation of six main irrigation canals, construction
of four gravity schemes, upgrading of tertiary irrigation systems in
over 70 communities and improvements to the Ararat valley drainage
system.

The Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), a multimillion-dollar scheme
designed to reward economic and political reforms in the developing
world, was started in 2006.

Armenia was to receive $236.65 million in 2006-2011. Most of the
MCA funds were to be spent on rebuilding and expanding the country’s
battered irrigation networks and refurbishing about 1,000 kilometres
of rural roads.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress