EcoLur
Unless public hearings are held, no construction can be carried out in Garden of Dragons. “We will hold public hearings only with those people who live here; we will listen to you and you will tell us what you want to construct and what kind of documents you have. If you want to receive a positive expert opinion, construction will be continued.
As Nature Protection Minister Aram Harutyunyan arrived in the site development of the green garden in Nor Nork known as the Garden of Dragons. It is several days since the construction of a block of flats has started in the Garden of Dragons, while its model was stoutly posted on the construction site, but after protest demonstration participants appeared, this poster was immediately taken to the van designed for workers. (See photos.)
The Minister arrived in the Garden of Dragons based on the request made by the “Heritage” party, who raised the illegality of the construction before the government in the course of parliamentary debates. The party’s main arguments were that the construction is conducted in public territory without any permitting documentation.
Particularly, “Air Construction” Company doesn’t have any positive opinion from the State Environmental Impact Assessment Group. It should be noted that one of the main components for expert assessment is holding public hearings. Still on 19 November the construction must have been stopped according to the Minister’s decree. Nevertheless, despite the decree, workers have surrounded the area with aluminium baffles and dug out deep holes. According to eye witnesses, heavy machinery had been working all the night. “But we did arrange no works will be conducted till the expert assessment, public hearings should be conducted and a solution – found,” the Minister said. Deputy Head of the State Environmental Inspection Karen Papoyan visited the garden together with the Minister. “We drew up the act, tomorrow we will provide a final conclusion, but the work was obviously continued,” Papoyan said.
We’ve got the impression from the whole conversation that it’s extremely undesirable for the Ministry to hurtle with the site developers. In reply to Company Executive Director Volodya Arakelyan’s promise to replant the trees in another place the Minister said, “Very well, this must be corroborated with appropriate documentation.” By the way, what about the trees. As if by magic, traces from felling disappeared during one night. Stepan Safaryan (“Heritage” Party) and activist Mariam Sukhudyan started searching for the stubs according to the photos taken several days ago. Part of the stubs turned out to be burnt down, while the other part was covered with soil taken from dug out ditches. But the representatives of authorities didn’t pay any attention to this. When Silva Adamyan proposed to stop all the illegal construction in Yerevan carried out without the expert assessment, the Minister said, “Don’t prevent us from working.”
The protest demonstration participants were decisive. “We won’t give this territory to you, here our children have played and our grandchildren will also play games,” said one of the residents. “Not the company must be sued, but also those people who permit to act in this manner,” the other resident said.
It should be noted while waiting for government representatives, the people took hammers and spades and started covering dug out areas. The police arrived reacting to these actions, but they didn’t exercise any force.
November 25, 2010