Larisa Paremouzyan, Hetq
Interview with Alaverdi Mayor Artur Nalbandyan
- Mr. Mayor, most residents in Alaverdi Town confirm the opinion that Alaverdi is a dying town with no perspectives. What’s your opinion about this?
- Probably these are people with lost hopes. Great future is expecting to Alaverdi. We have great hopes with the exploitation of Teghout deposit, where at first from 1500 to 1700 people will be employed. Shnogh and Teghout villages cannot ensure such number of employees, and we are sure that 500-600 Alaverdi residents will find their jobs here.
- Do you have statistical data about the migration from Alaverdi as a result of the global crisis?
- The crisis affected Alaverdi, which is a mining town, more heavily than the other towns. 400 employees at Copper Smelting Combine were fired, and 100 out of them went to work at “Drmbon” enterprise. We, together RA Government and Lori Marz Administration, are tackling the issue of employment, even temporary one, for the rest.
- Alaverdi Employment Center has approximately 3 300 unemployed registered. Is this number characteristic to the social state in the town? If the work at Teghout deposit starts and those 500 people mentioned by you will be employed, will this solve the problem?
- Good remark! During the election campaign I talked about tourism development. Tourism is an unusual sphere for us. We conduct seminars with the young in Alaverdi and we are sure that we will have a good basis for tourism in several years. When saying tourism development, we mean not only the development of hotel chains, restaurant chains, and roads, but also healthy environment, that’s why now we are conducting talks with АСР Company. So, the pipe of Alaverdi Combine is supposed to change its place in order to emit toxic gases at the height of 1100 meters (400 meters higher than now). Thus, the pollution in the city will be reduced 6 times.
Our private sector is not active and has no opportunities for big investments. We must use natural raw materials, such as timber, stones and berries. Though we have some fears in regard to the ecological situation in Alaverdi, neighboring villages are ecologically clean and investments can be made in light industry as well. We are trying to invite foreign investors, but they are afraid of the ecological situation in Alaverdi.
Read more about this story in Armenian.
August 27, 2009