EcoLur
The local residents and public representatives didn’t agree with the arguments of the World Bank on Qaghtsrashen Gravity Irrigation program. Upon World Bank Yerevan Office’s invitation, the representatives of Garni community and public had a meeting with the managers of Qaghtsrashen program from the office of “Water Industry” PIU and WB experts on 11 March.
The reason for the meeting was the letter addressed to the World Bank on the unsustainability and risks of Qaghtsrashen program in economic, environmental and social aspects and the violations in running the public hearings on the program.
Reminder: Qaghtsrashen program aims at the irrigation of 12 communities in Ararat Region, and for this purpose the water shall be taken from the Azat River flowing through the territory of Garni Village and other communities of Kotayk Region, which is the water borderline of “Khosrov Forest” State Reserve.
As the Garni residents, environmentalitsts and activists, as well as many independent experts claim, the water in the river is insufficient for the irrigation of agricultural land areas because of poor management of water resources and overexploitation of water, as well as natural factors. Among the most expected risks because of overexploitation of the water in the Azat River is the change of the landscape of the most famous and visited tourism routes in Armenia – Garni Gorge, as well as the elimination of the landscape and biodiversity of “Khosrov Forest” reserve.
“Garni is not simply a community, but a developed tourism center and we can’t ignore this fact,” said Sara Petrosyan, a Garni resident and a journalist, while Albert Harutyunyan, an engineer-hydrologist and a Garni resident, asked a question, “Who will cover water deficit in the Azat River, if it makes up 6000 l/s in the summer?”
Levon Galstyan, a member of the Pan-Armenian Environmental Front, expressed mistrust to the figures in the technical evaluation of the program. “We simply need to calculate the figures of water consumption from the Azat River and to compare them with the technical evaluation. Under the program, the environmental flow shall make up 850 l/s. If to add the volume of drinking water of 1.56 cum/s and another 1 cum/s used by Garni Community in the summer, plus 300 l/s used by Goht community, and almost 1 cubic meter to ensure water for Ararat Region, so, it must be 4.75 cubic meter/s water in the river. Where could you see such amount of water in the Azat River in July-August,” Levon Galstyan said and added that for this reason Qaghtsrashen program shall be recognized non-operable or operable only in the rainiest years, i.e. once five years approximately.
The position of WB experts was not convincing and concluded as follows that the alternative versions proposed by the public and residents were either too costly or “fantastic” (on the proposal to use solar energy and to pump water not from the Azat River, but from the Aras River, for example). As a matter of fact, the alternative versions having submitted to the environmental expertise of Qaghtsrashen program were not estimated and discussed.
It was also discussed to what extent the civil society of Armenia needs this program, “You intends to take water from 8000 Garni residents and to give it to 800 Narek villagers,” Garni residents stated.
In EcoLur’s viewpoint (expressed by EcoLur President Inga Zarafyan at the meeting), the argument on poor population, which shall be solved in the frames of Qaghtsrashen program according to WB Expert Winston Yu, is not convincing. The land areas proposed to be irrigated in the frames of this given program belong not the poorest people, but to top officials. Here the conflict of interests is evident. As not only the beneficiaries of this program will pay off the loan, but also the whole population of Armenia, the program must take public benefits into consideration. Then the World Bank has its own standards and adopted social and environmental policy. Nevertheless, the discussed project doesn’t take either these standards, or the social and environmental accountability into account,” EcoLur thinks.
World Bank Yerevan Office PR Manager Vigen Sargsyan objected that the WB had prepared its own Social and Environmental Impact Program on Qaghtsrashen. According to him, the opinions of the local residents not having agreed to the program, are taken into consideration in these assessments.
WB representatives promised to familiarize with the minutes, which show the abovementioned opinions and evaluations.
March 14, 2016 at 18:38