On January 31, 2023, RA Administrative Court upheld the claim filed by "Lorva Amrots" LLC against the Government of the Republic of Armenia. According to the decision of RA Administrative Court, the Dzoraget river should be removed from the list of rivers defined by the decision of RA Government, on which it is forbidden to issue a water use permit for the construction of a small hydropower plant.
"Lorva Amrots" LLC requested the court to repeal Clause 19 concerning Dzoraget tributary of the Debed River of Annex to RA government's decision No. 488-N "Rejection of applications for water use permits for small hydroelectric power plants under construction, which are envisaged to be constructed in red-listed or spawning grounds for endemic fish species typical of the area, or are 40 percent or more loaded with derivation pipes".
"Lorva Amrots" LLC intends to build the small hydropower plants "Loribird-1" and "Loribird-2" on the Dzoraget River.
From the study of the court case, it becomes clear that the reason for Dzoraget being included in the list of rivers of RA Government Decision 488-N was the presence of a red-listed fish species.
According to "Lorva Amrots" LLC, the contested decision of RA government is unfounded, it is accepted based on a document of the level of writing that has no evidential value and is not substantiated by research that requires any special knowledge.
The respondent RA government, in particular, noted that RA Red Book, Scientific Center of Zoology and Hydroecology of NAS RA and the Armenian State Pedagogical University named after Khachatur Abovyan were the basis for including the Dzoraget tributary in the decision list.
The court, after examining the grounds cited by the defendant, recorded that they do not at all confirm the fact that the Dzoraget tributary of the Debet River is the spawning ground of Kura gudgeon and upheld the claim filed by "Lorva Amrots" LLC.
February 15, 2023 at 16:31