YEREVAN, June 17 /ARKA/. The Yerevan Municipality has announced a tender for the purchase of a new batch of elevators, the municipality press secretary Hakob Karapetyan said in a  Facebook post.

Earlier, Yerevan Mayor Hayk Marutyan said  that residents of high-rise residential buildings will have to pay for the replacement of their outdated elevators with modern ones. The statement has caused discontent of the population. Nevertheless, the mayor’s office confirmed this information.

Vice Mayor Hayk Sarkisian said  the fee for the operation of elevators in Yerevan will increase up to 20% to cover the related costs. He said the modernization of the elevators requires about 25 billion drams (about $51 million), but the city budget does not have this amount. 

Earlier the Yerevan Municipality said that in conjunction with the Asian Development Bank it was conducting a feasibility study of multi-apartment elevators in Yerevan to prepare a package of reforms.-0-