EcoLur
Martuni Town in Gegharkounik Region is demanding from the company operating “Martuni” SHPP to eliminate environmental problems and to compensate caused damage.
“I can see that no environmental standard is kept: the whole river is down. There is water in the river, no fish; the SHPP has taken all the water, there is no water even to give water to our animals,” Martuni Mayor Armen Avetisyan said in his interview with EcoLur.
He mentioned there are some residents in whole land areas SHPP supporting columns were placed during the SHPP construction, nevertheless, the promised compensation haven’t been given so far.
“This SHPP has destroyed our nature, there isn’t even one frog in the Martuni River. Our winter lasts 8 months; we have stayed here for the water and fish. Why is the SHPP taking away our resources and how we benefit from the SHPP?” said Anahit Gevorgyan, President of “Martuni Women’s Community Council” NGO.
She claims this SHPP has been constructed illegally, the public hearings have been held without the knowledge of the local residents. They learnt about the SHPP only when the construction of the SHPP had been accomplished.
“We haven’t blocked the water of the SHPP, but we had warned them to present all the papers so as we can see whether the law has been followed and whether they are entitled to operate this SHPP. We will check all the documents and only afterwards we will decide whether or not we will allow its operation,” Mayor Armen Avetisyan said and added, “They haven’t kept any promise, haven’t contributed to the community in any way. They pay only several drams as land fee and that’s it.”
In reply to the question why these problems were not raised in the past, the Mayor said, “In the past we knew our problems won’t be solved, but now we are sure our complaint will reach our Prime Minister.”
Martuni residents arranged with the SHPP administration to have a meeting on 14 May.
“Martuni” SHPP is constructed in the basin of Lake Sevan, on the Martuni River flowing into Lake Sevan and is operated by “MKSHG Energia” LLC. The SHPP was put into operation in 2011.
In 2016 EcoLur’s expert group held a monitoring in Martuni SHPP; you can see the findings of the monitoring here.
May 11, 2018 at 18:46