Lena Nazaryan, Hetq
There is a hill near Hrazdan Town. This is the site where ferruginous deposit will be opened and ore will be mined through explosions. Here a processing plant will be constructed as well.
The deposit is located near other settlements, Qakhsi Village- 4 km, Solak – 6 km, Lernanist – 5.5 km. Sevan – Hrazdan Canal runs only 0,6 km far away from the deposit square, and the Hrazdan River is 1,5 km away. The tourist centers Tsaghkadzor and Hanqavan are not far away from Hrazdan with big investments made. Nevertheless, the proximity of the settlements and tourist centers did not hinder “Nagin” Company to receive the positive opinion of the State Environmental Expert Commission of the Ministry of Nature Protection of RA. At this point all the opportunities to freeze the process to construct all these objects are practically exhausted: expert opinions are given, public hearings are finished. “We started to collect signatures against the opening of the deposit,” said Edgar Yengibaryan, the Coordinator for the Aarhus Center in Hrazdan. “Maybe more Hrazdan Town residents will put their signatures, if they are not concerned with the question, whether the Mayor knows about it, or whether I will be fired?” Hrazdan Town has 57 thousand residents, but only 1500 have signed.
September 10, 2009