WORLD BANK OFFICIAL PRAISES WATER DISTRIBUTION COMPANIES FOR IMPROVING WATER SUPPLIES QUALITY
/ARKA/
May 19, 2011
YEREVAN
YEREVAN, May 19. /ARKA/. Head of World Bank Yerevan Office, Michel
Happi, praised today five water distribution companies in Armenia
for having improved water supplies quality over the last five years.
Speaking to local journalists Mr. Happi said the progress is obvious
when today~Rs situation is compared with what there was five years ago
with duration of water supplies rising from 17 hours a day to 21-22.
He said several projects are underway outside the capital city designed
to improve water supplies quality in provinces.
At the request of the government World Bank Armenia Office conducted
a study of water supplies services to identify the best form of
cooperation between the government and private sector in this area.
~QReforms in water distribution area are not over yet and what has
been achieved will be strengthened and continued,~R he said.
Yerevan~Rs water distribution network s run by Yerevan Joor (Yerevan
Water), a company run by French Generale des Eaux that won an
international tender announced by World Bank to take up a long-term
management of the Yerevan network in 2006. It pledged to upgrade the
obsolete network and ensure 24-hour water supplies to households. The
company manages also drinking and waste water removal systems in
Ararat, Aragatsotn and Kotayk provinces. It has 339,370 customers
and produces 370 million cubic meters of drinking water a year and
manages 2,120 lm long water pipelines. There are four more companies
managing water distribution networks across the country