Byurakan village residents are against construction of
a hydro power plant at Amberd river in the Orgov gorge of Aragatsotn region of
Armenia. About 150 residents of the village came to the construction site today
to express their protest.
They told ArmInfo correspondent that they worry that
the shallow-water river will dry up and the village will remain without water. However,
the construction of the Amberd power plant has already started and Byurakan
residents are confident that Armenia's Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepyan is
behind the construction. The latter has already built houses and green houses
in Byurakan and does not want to stop.
Armenia's Economy Minister Tigran Davtyan told
journalists earlier that "Amberd GES" Ltd. is going to invest about
790 mln drams (about $2 mln) for construction of the power plant cascade and
the government of Armenia adopted a decision to postpone VAT payment from
import of equipment for three years.
To note, "Amberd GES" Ltd. was founded in
November 2004 by Gurgen Hakopyan and a citizen of Iran Parviznosrati Alasdari.