EcoLur
On 8 June 2018, 11 members of Alaverdi Aldermen's Council unilaterally voted for the cessation of 'Shnogh' SHPP project in their message addressed to the Armenian PM, as journalist Edward Arzumanyan writes on www.armtimes.com website. The message says,
'Respectable Mr. Prime Minister,
The members of Alaverdi Community Aldermen's Council, Lori Region, are applying to you concerning the problem of 'Shnogh' HPP construction. Recently the residents of Alaverdi are extremely concerned with the environmental disaster threatening the Debed River. Nowadays we all can imagine what kind of irreversible consequences can have the construction of SHPP on Alaverdi and other residential areas in the Debed basin. It doesn't matter how much some specialists speak about the project implementation as a positive phenomenon, the importance of SHPP and creating new working places, as a result, nevertheless, we, Alaverdi residents, are well aware of the disaster threatening us.
According to the information we have, the construction of 'Shnogh' HPP will commence in the upcoming years. It should be mentioned that an active community group has been formed against the construction of 'Shnogh' HPP, awareness meetings and public discussions have been organized. This problem is pressing and the active society of the community is ready to fight till the very end. We, the members of the Aldermen's Council, are ready to support any public initiative. Therefore, we would like to draw your intention to this extremely significant problem and take proper measures to annul the construction of 'Shnogh' HPP.
The head section of 'Shnogh' HPP with a projected capacity of 76 Mw is planned to be constructed on the Debed River, while the station will have a 22-kilometer-long aqueduct tunnel with a dam to use the hydroenergetic resources of the Debed and Marts River. The implementation of 'Shnogh' HPP is estimated in the amount of around US $150-190 million.
According to the official website of 'Energo Invest Holding' CJSC, Debed Hydro LLC, a subsidiary of Energy Invest Holding CJSC, has signed an advisory services agreement with IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, to support the development of the Shnogh hydropower plant in Armenia. Pöyry Switzerland LLC, a Swiss consulting company, is conducting a feasibility study of the project. IFC will review the project documents and provide advice to help the plant meet international standards.
June 15, 2018 at 14:39