EcoLur
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told reporters at a press conference in Vanadzor on September 16 in response to the question whether the $ 400,000 spent on international expertise in Amulsar Mine is wasted or not. "That $ 400,000 has been spent on discovering the truth about Amulsar's operation. And I don't think that any money spent for the truth can be considered as wasted. I would like to state that from the first day the government has been working 100% transparently on the situation around the Amulsar mine." The Prime Minister also noted that the videoconference with specialists of ELARD Company revealed new circumstances.
In particular, Lydian is the guarantor of Amulsar mine operation security. "The conclusion of ELARD was when I asked them, 'Do you guarantee security under the conditions you have proposed? They said that Lydian was the guarantor of security in all cases." "Now the government has to answer two questions: is there any reason to revoke that permission or not? If it does, it will be canceled, if it doesn't, it won't be done. Otherwise the international economic rating of the Republic of Armenia will decrease significantly," he said.
Referring to the decision of RA court on opening the roads leading to the mine, Pashinyan noted: “I find it very important that the public is not manipulated. Why do I say to open the roads, because I believe that there is a government in the Republic of Armenia that will close the roads if there is a need to close the roads, if there is a need to open it, it will open the roads.” Speaking about being interested in the opening of the Teghut mine, the Prime Minister mentioned that the mine is in itself a problem. And it has to be a subject for the government to be able to put concrete demands on it. “If our environmentalists were right when a 2-3 magnitude earthquake hit the Teghut area, that dam would have long since collapsed. Will anybody now say, sorry, I'm wrong? Of course, they will not say, on the contrary, they will accuse me of corruption, they will say that my little girl Arpi has 50% stake. The cruelest lies will say, only not to say we are sorry,” Pashinyan said.
PM touches upon the appointment of Arthur Grigoryan in 2018, one of the most active participants of the environmental movement, as the head of the inspection body, and in no way restricting him; “I was told the following, then, that the government was corrupt. You were right in saying that there is no way to discover the truth. Now the paper is in your hand and the pen. Go, find out. The head of the inspection body went, carried out inspections and brought a funny document. When he left, he had no restrictions and was unable to do anything,” Pashinyan said.
In response to this statement, former head of the RA Ministry of Nature Protection and Mining Inspectorate Arthur Grigoryan wrote on his Facebook page in particular: “From now on, I feel that I am not restrained in detailing what happened during the Amulsar inspection, what pressure I have had, by whom and in what ways. Probably he has forgotten about Qajaran is that 90% of the mining industry in Armenia, where the Inspection has recorded huge violations, and about which he himself did not allow me to make an adequate decision on the results of the inspection firing me making no comments. I did not even discuss with him the extent and legal nature of the violations, since it would be difficult for me to vest the consequences of the decision on me. "
September 17, 2019 at 11:35