Funds may disappear
"Why should the government be responsible for revising funds for the population?" said RA Deputy Minister of Urban Development Karlen Gevorgyan in response to the question whether any measures are taken to update funds for the population.
Eighty-five percent of the buildings in Armenia were built during the Soviet years and the buildings constructed during the years of independence make up only 15 percent. In other words, 85% trace back to decades ago and it turns out that the state is not responsible for any accidents.
If the building is destroyed and, say, 40 people remain in ruins, where is the government to blame?
"That is a different story. First of all, we must check to see what caused the destruction. If a multi-story building in Yerevan collapses, the first people to blame are the residents. Residents underestimate their property by not keeping their items well-furnished," said Karlen Gevorgyan.
He then went on to say why the government is not obligated to set foundations for the buildings.
"Do you pay the government money before selling your house? Why should the government give you new items?
Doesn't the government take care of citizens' safety? In response to that he said:
"That is why we must strengthen the potential of administration bodies. There is a lack of relationship between residents and government bodies."
In that case, why do RA citizens make payments? The payments for each person based on districts, such as Kentron or Arabkir, are more expensive and go up to 1,000 drams and even more.
"Yes, if we take a look at how much money is collected from multi-story buildings, it is a lot of money and they are not used wisely. That is why it is our purpose to regulate funds for preserving multi-story buildings and strengthen government bodies," said Karlen Gevorgyan.
The Deputy Minister also said that studies and conclusions on the technical state of buildings must be conducted once every 10 years. "A1+" conducted a small survey and as a result, nobody mentioned anything about an expert visiting their house.
"Residents must raise that issue. It is your property and you must take care of it," said Kareln Gevorgyan.
The government does not provide funding for renovating buildings. "There are 30,000 homeless families of which 7,000 live in the disaster zone. In addition to that, we have refugees, liberation fighters, orphans. The government has set the issue to provide these people with homes," said the Deputy Minister as he presented the plans of the government. This year the Ministry of Urban Development has a plan to provide nearly 700 families with homes and as the deputy minister said, the plan is in progress and 30 families have funds to try to get homes.
It turns out that the government does not have a plan for providing the homeless with homes. "The main emphasis is placed on financial assistance so that they will be able to buy homes at market prices,"
There are also construction projects through credit in Tsaghkahovit and Stepanavan with the purpose of constructing 1000 apartments with the disaster zone project.
"The Ministry does not have a construction firm through which it will be able to implement construction. The Ministry concedes funds and oversees quality of construction," said Karlen Gevorgyan.
