On December 20, 2022, the third public hearing on the environmental impact assessment (EIA) of "Aig-1" photovoltaic plant construction project was held in Katnaghbyur, Ashnak, Dashtadem and Talin settlements, Aragatsotn Regio, as Armenian National Interests Fund informs.
It should be noted that the EIA report of "Aig-1" photovoltaic plant construction project is not available either on the website of Tallinn Municipality, or Armenian National Interests Fund, or RA Environment Ministry.
In June 2022, the application for the preliminary assessment of the environmental impact of the construction and operation of the "Aig-1" photovoltaic plant was published on the official website of RA Environment Ministry, which superficially presents the planned activities and does not contain the results of detailed studies, which, according to the application, should be presented in the EIA.
"Aig-1" station is planned to be built in Talin, Dashtadem and Ashnak settlements, Aragatsotn Region. The distance of the borders of the territory in a straight line from the nearest houses of the mentioned settlements will be Ashnak 0.5 km, Dashtadem 1.25 km, Talin 1.4 km. The station will occupy 560 hectares of land.
The application says that the area requested for "Aig-1" solar power plant is a typical mountain dry steppe zone with typical light brown soils, characterized by an insignificant content of humus /2-3.5%/... The capacity of the fertile layer of the soil is a few centimeters from zero: For such lands, the rate of removal of the fertile layer of the soil is not defined. About 500,000 panels will be installed. What will be done with the e-waste generated by the operation of the plant is not specified in the application.
During the hearing, residents raised social issues. They were informed that "Masdar" company provided 320 million AMD as a donation for the social support programs of Talin and Dashtadem communities. What about the villages of Katnaghbyur and Ashnak, small support programs are planned (including various courses), because the lands of these villages are not included in the program, but are only pastures for livestock.
Reminder: RA Government invested 377.4 hectares of land owned by the Republic of Armenia with the value of 822,084,793 AMD in the statutory capital of Armenian National Interests Fund within the framework of "Aig-1" project by its Resolution No. 1777 of October 28, 2021.
RA government considered to take the land for the implementation of the project as a donation by the decision 1922-L of December 26, 2019.
Thus, if we consider that only 377.4 ha of land was valued at 822 million AMD, then the donation of 320 million AMD provided as compensation is disproportionate.
The operation of the photovoltaic power plant is planned to start in 2025.
December 29, 2022 at 15:09