12:59,

YEREVAN, JANUARY 18, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian government plans to open a new city park and a recreational area in Yerevan in what Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan described Thursday as an “environmental megaproject.”

The projects concern the Gardens of Dalma, the oldest and biggest garden in the city located in between downtown Yerevan and adjacent districts of Ajapnyak and Malatia-Sebastia, and the Hrazdan Gorge.

The government wants to transform the Gardens of Dalma into a big city park. “We have two projects, and we’ve had discussions about this and I have given instructions. One of them is the transformation of the Gardens of Dalma into a big city park with as minimal interference as possible,” Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the Cabinet meeting.

“And the other project, which would become an environmental megaproject if connected with each other, is the project on transforming the Hrazdan Gorge into a recreational area,” Pashinyan added.

The Prime Minister said he supports Yerevan Mayor Tigran Avinyan’s policy of displaying restraint against investment projects in the Hrazdan Gorge in order to preserve the area for a recreational area.

“The Gardens of Dalma are next to Hrazdan Gorge and it’s reasonable for the recreational area to start from the Hrazdan river mouth up to the Korea Gorge,” Pashinyan said.

Exploratory works are now underway in 250 hectares of the Gardens of Dalma. The project involves the leading park-designing company of the UAE. The entire 250 hectares will be designed as a city park.