ArmInfo
In order to justify its plans to change the Argichi river bed, Armenia's Ecology Ministry has understated the area of the irrigated lands of five communities of Gegharkunik region, resident of one of the communities, member of the action group against the Argichi project Paytsar Aghababyan said during a press-conference.
"The Ministry's special committee says that the area is 2,714 h while, according to the Aarhus Center, it is 6,850 h. By means of this fake mathematics the Ministry seeks to justify the project. They are also trying to convince us that they are not building a water power plant on Argichi but are just doing some repair work to supply the village of Akhnjadzor with irrigation water. But what we see in reality is not 230 mm but 530 mm pipes laid on the site - a diameter typical of WPP," Aghababyan said.
She pointed to one more interesting circumstance: "As if by magic, the area of Akhnjadzor in their documents has grown by 200 h. At first, they mentioned 71 h, now, 271 h."
"The Ministry's committee investigating the Argichi case comprises no single resident from the above-mentioned communities. They are trying to convince us that the committee is inspecting the site but we have people there who oversee the situation round-the-clock and they say that they have not seen any single commissioner on the site so far," Aghababyan said.
Argichi is the biggest river flowing into Lake Sevan. If it is diverted, almost 30,000 people living in Gehovit, Madina, Vaghashen, Nerkin Getashen and Verin Getashen rural communities will be left without irrigation water. There is one more interesting fact: this project can curb the rise of Sevan's level, which will be good for those owning elite property on the shore.
August 02, 2010