ArmInfo
Development of Teghout copper and molybdenum mine is a collective crime with the participation of state officials.
Head of the Greens Union in Armenia Hakob Sanasaryan made this statement in the course of the international conference dedicated to Teghout issues.
Arminfo
The statements that the lands of Shnokh and Teghout districts are dead, do not meet reality, Professor Varsham Avetisyan said at international conference dedicated to the problems of ecological safety of Tekhut deposit development on 14 December.
He also added that harvest at 40 centners may be gathered from 1 ha of the land of this districts. ‘Five years ago we managed to get 70 centners of wheat from 1 ha’, - he said. ‘Instead of development of the cooper and molybdenum deposit one could develop ecologically pure agriculture which is demanded in the whole world at present’, - Avetisyan said and added that growing of raspberry and blackberry on these lands would be beneficial. He also said that profit from ecologically pure agriculture may amount to 18 bln drams per year and implementation of this programme will make it possible to open new job places in Teghout.
TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL: ALL DECISIONS ON DEVELOPMENT OF TEGHOUT WERE TAKEN BEHIND CLOSE DOORS
ArmInfo
All the decisions on development of Teghout were taken behind close doors, Chair of Transparency International Anti-corruption Center, Sona Ayvazyan, said at an international conference dedicated to environmental security of the Teghout copper-molybdenum deposit development project.
She pointed out that representatives of a number of ministries and governmental organizations were invited to participate in the conference, however, neither of them came. "We expected Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan to make a speech at the conference. Two years ago we raised the problem of Teghout before him, and at that time we were promised that specific steps would be taken to reform the legislation and hold international expert examination of the project. However, nothing has been done so far. Moreover, the parliament is discussing a law "On mineral resources", which actually lacks the notion of "waste", Ayvazyan stressed.
She recalled that public organizations have been actively fighting against development of Teghout deposit since 2007. "After we had involved independent experts tin the process and received their assessment, it became clear what violations the positive conclusion of the expert examination made", she said. The draft resolution of the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee proves that the approval of the project ran counter to international conventions.
According to that resolution, Armenia has failed to implement certain commitments as a party to the Convention. Ayvazyan recalled that on March 24 2010 the Administrative Court rejected the public organizations' claim on Teghout. The Cassation Court has already taken into consideration the complaint against the verdict delivered, however, held no trial over the past few months. "Despite this, we still hope for justice", she said.
To note, the international conference was organized by the initiative group SOS Teghout jointly with the Georgian public organization Green Alternative.
December 15, 2010