EcoLur
The public hearings on “Gndevanq” SHP held on 5 February in Jermuk should be recognized as null and void, while the package of documentation submitted for the environmental expertise by “BSB” company should be given back to the company. This is what Pan-Armenian Environmental Front activist Levon Galstyan’s letter addressed to Nature Protection Minister says. As substantiation, the demand particularly says, “The public hearings were held with gross violations of Article 6 (3&4) RA Law “On Environmental Impact Expert Assessment”, the timeframes for doing the expertise. The document submitted for expertise was displayed on the website of Nature Protection Ministry on 19 November, afterwards the public hearings should be held. But these public hearings failed, and “BSB” company should be blamed for this.
Consequently, the environmental expertise department should have returned the document to the company, which hasn’t been done. The hearing itself didn’t almost take place, as the representatives of Jermuk Municipality (the main stakeholder) didn’t turn up. The minutes were not drawn up, while the representative of the initiator, Mr. Mezhlumyan, was not aware of the project well enough corroborated with his speech, which quite often contradicted to the project provisions. The environmental part in the program itself is presented weakly, important facts are missing, for example, nothing is written about the felling of trees, though the map shows that the SHP pipes should be laid through forest territory. The sanitary flow, 0.05 cubic meters per second, is insufficient for the preservation of river ecosystem. The project confuses names, measures designed for the community are missing, i.e. the project has been drawn up carelessly and with mistakes. “Environmental Expertise” SNCO representative Karine Movsisyan pointed out this as well…” the statement says. EcoLur joins Levon Galstyan’s statement addressed to Nature Protection Ministry of Armenia.
February 15, 2013 at 11:51