EcoLur
To the attention of Nature Protection Minister Mr. Aram Harutyunyan
Copies to:
Territorial Administration Minister, Deputy PM Mr. Armen Gevorgyan,
Agriculture Minister Mr. Sergo Karapetyan
Letter
The Nature Protection Ministry has no right to ignore the destroying impact of Argitchi SHPP illegally constructed on the Argitchi River, a part of Lake Sevan catchment basin. When testing Argitchi SHPP two breakdowns occurred: the breakdown of pipes first occurred on 18 July and the water washed away the crops of potato in Verin Getashen Village. On 1 September 2013 the pipes broke again when testing the operation of Argitchi SHPP and the water washed away barley crops of Madina Village. The locals found fish in the flooded areas thrown out of SHPP pipes: the Argitchi River is a spawning site for endemic fish species of Lake Sevan basin.
Project implementing company, “Hydrocorporation” LLC paid the injured people up to 40,000 AMD (around US $100), which doesn’t exonerate either the company or the competent supervising bodies, particularly, the State Environmental Inspection of Nature Protection Ministry from the liability before the law. The damage hasn’t been assessed, while the government lost the payments to the budget to be made for the damages of specially protected areas.
It’s noteworthy that the documentation of Argitchi SHPP (http://www.nature-ic.am/en/ccinarmenia/CDM%20in%20Armenia/15) dates back to 2006-2008. The construction of Argitchi SHPP was launched in 2012. Under the current legislation, all the permitting documents, including the EIA (2006) are expired.
EcoLur and Gavar Aarhus Center several times applied to Nature Protection Ministry on Argitchi SHPP and expressed their concerns with the illegal construction. But the Ministry didn’t carry out inspections and stopped illegal construction, though the Ministry replies showed that the project didn’t undergo the procedure of environmental expertise as prescribed by RA Law “On Environmental Impact Expert Assessment.”
The Argitchi River is a spawning site for endemic fish species, while the government annually spends around US $ 1 million from the budget to support the programs aimed at the protection, recovery and reproduction of Lake Sevan. But the facts about Argitchi SHPP operation show that Lake Sevan, a part of which ecosystem is Argitchi River, is left without any supervision, while any control over the activities of “Hydrocorporation” LLC is missing.
We would like to draw the attention to the fact, that under the information we have, a package of permitting documents on Argitchi SHPP is currently being prepared in the violation of the statutory procedure, as a matter of fact, after the construction and the damage caused.
Argitchi SHPP project us currently submitted for the funding to German KfW Development Bank and has a signed agreement on the sale of carbon quotas in the frames of CDM through EBRD Multilateral Carbon Credit Fund (MCCF).
September 27, 2013 at 14:59