ArmInfo. The previous authorities of Yerevan made a mistake by providing only one company with the function of garbage collection, thereby not leaving "airbags" for themselves. On May 13, Yerevan Mayor Hayk Marutyan said this during meeting broadcasted live on Facebook initiated by the Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
Reporting to the prime minister about the current situation with garbage collection, Marutyan called one of the reasons for the failure of Sanitek company, which, in his opinion, does not own experience in this field. He also said that the information about the company having any experience in garbage collection is contradictory.
To Pashinyan's question whether the municipality performed its functions in a timely manner, Marutyan assured that the municipality clearly and on time transferred the necessary funds to the company. According to the mayor, Sanitek cannot work, first of all, because the fleet is in poor condition. "Under the contract, the company was supposed to supply 16 thousand metal trash bins, but now the total number of the company's trash bins in Yerevan barely reaches 5 thousand'', he explained. The mayor also reminded that after Sanitek entered the Armenian market, the previously existing sanitary sectors were liquidated, however trusting such a business to only company always carries risks. In turn, Pashinyan drew attention to the Lebanese origin of the company, noting that the authorities so far prefer not to talk about the real owners of the company.
''We do not tell for now brother of which former senior official is connected with Lebanon. These are issues that we do not touch upon yet'', said Pashinyan. It should be noted that the brother of Serzh Sargsyan Levon Sargsyan for many years was the Ambassador of Armenia to Lebanon.
Earlier it became known that according to preliminary calculations of the State Revenue Committee (SRC) of Armenia, Sanitek International LLC and the Armenian branch of Sanitek LLC owed the state about 600 million drams.
At the meeting of the Council of Elders, it was also decided to allocate 1 billion 726 million drams to resolve problems with garbage collection. It should be noted that the problem of garbage collection has been acute in Yerevan since last summer. Yerevan Municipality and Sanitek cannot agree on the proper organization of waste collection, periodically making mutual accusations. The city authorities repeatedly fined the company (for a total of 150 thousand dollars), and recently Sanitek went to court, demanding compensation in almost the same amount.