WATER MONOPOLISTS WERE REVEALED
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[04:12 pm] 07 June, 2006
The companies providing the residents of Armenia with drinking water
have different tariffs for one cubic meter of water. For example, the
company “Yerevan Water Pipeline” sells one cubic meter of water for
80 AMD, “Shirak Water Pipeline” – for 76 AMD and “Lori Water Pipeline”
– for 91 AMD.
Ashot Shahnazaryan, the head of the RA Economic Competition Protection
State Committee who was presiding over the usual session of the
Committee wondered how the tariff was formed. The representatives
of the companies providing people with water gave no answer to that
question.
The committee has carried out investigations and found out that the
above mentioned four companies are monopolists in their regions,
that’s to say, they do not have competitors. But the companies who
have cleared out the areas of their activity are facing a problem. A
number of villages have been left out of the planning and are not
provided with water by any company.
Each of the companies tries to explain away saying that they are not
in charge of these villages.
Nevertheless, all of them were asked to solve the problem as soon
as possible.