EcoLur
Vardenik villagers in Gegharkounik Region have today unblocked the water supply to 'Vardenik' SHPP owned by Hakob Hakobyan's family, which was blocked on 2 May. Vardenik residents blocked the SHPP water, as the SHPP doesn't ensure the environmental flow of the river and it gets dry. The second reason was that the MP voted against the candidate for MP Nikol Pashinyan.
Together with local 'Hamaynqi Zarkerak' (Community Artery), the local residents demanded from Hakob Hakobyan to come personally to the village and listen to their requirements, and only afterward they will unblock the SHPP water.
Today, on 3 May Hakob Hakobyan arrived in Vardenik to have meetings with the residents.
'People, I want to ask you a question whether Hakob Hakobyna is your enemy or MP?' Hakob Hakobyan asked the residents. He reminded that on 2 April 2017 Vardenik gave 3000 votes to the RPA and him and stated, 'We changed our mind in 20 hours and we are going to elect Nikol Pashinyan. It has taken us only 20 hours to reach a decision to elect Nikol. Who respects a betrayer. You want me to become a betrayer, but you don't give me 20 hours to press the button and elect whom you want. We are not against Nikol Pashinyan: we voted against him to vote for him on 8 May,' Hakob Hakobyan promised.
'Hamaynqi Zarkerak' President Artush Khachatryan said in his interview with EcoLur that Hakob Hakobyan had also promised to meet the demands related to the operation of 'Vardenik' HPP. 'We demanded to ensure all the environmental standards for the SHPP, to have a water-meter, online regime to be able to control the water amount flowing into the SHPP. Hakobyan promised to meet them,' Artush Khachatryan said. Hakob Hakobyan was also posed a demand to allot monthly installment from the SHPP profit to the community.
'These requirements are very fair: environmental flow must be ensured and social support should be provided. The residents have already unblocked the flow of the river to the SHPP, the environmental flow is ensured, while the other matters are still being negotiated,' Vardenik Community Head Hovhannes Hoveyan told EcoLur.
It should be mentioned that 'Vardenik' SHPP is developed by 'Jrasahq' LLC, where the largest shareholders of the company are Hakob Hakobyan's son and brothers.
In 2016 EcoLur's expert group carried out monitoring in Vardenik SHPP, while the findings of the monitoring are available here.
May 03, 2018 at 18:39