A YEAR OVERLOADED WITH WORK AND RESULT

 The Minister of Urban Development of the Republic of ArtsakhAram Sargsyan convened a press conference on February 1 and presented the last year’s activities of theministry. The Minister considers last year difficult both in terms of the volume of work carried out, the direction and the period. The Minister stated that last year the state funds for urban development were the largest amount recorded since independence.

The initial volume of the state order for capital investments for 2021 was more than 9 billion 242 million drams, which increased by the end of the year and reached more than 25 billion 460 million drams. In addition, 19 billion 366 million extra-budgetary funds were involved.

As in the previous year, the ministry's main tasks were to eliminate the devastation caused by the 44-day war, to build new housing for displaced families, and to rebuild and renovate an existing housing stock. According to the Minister, there were 7622 damaged buildings in the territory of the republic, construction works are being carried out by 2988 objects by different construction companies, during the last year the works were completed in 2445 of them. Construction materials were provided for the renovation of more than 1,000 houses and public buildings. The district administrations submitted a list of 1748 old houseswithout inhabitants; in the reporting year 429 houses have already been renovated and provided to the displaced families who were in need the most. The Minister emphasized that at present repairs are underway in the apartments of 246 killed servicemen and volunteers, in 125 the works have been completed.

The program is in the center of the President's attention and will be continuous. Naturally, the largest volume of work was carried out in the field of housing:the works for the construction of more than 3000 residential houses are already underway; 35 houses were built and put into operation in 2021, mainly with fast-assembling structures. They have already been provided to displaced families. Residential buildings are being built in the capital of the republic, in different settlements of the regions. The Minister noted that the main addressees of the implemented works are the displaced families, but the previously started works with the promotion of having many children and other programs continue. In response to the questions raised by the journalists at the press conference, A. Sargsyan provided details on the number of companies involved in the construction work in the country, the quality of work, transparency and housing for displaced families in specific settlements.

Nune HAYRAPETYAN