Government to outsource management of Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concert Complex
11.09.2014,
11:48
Management functions for Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concert Complex in Yerevan will be outsourced to a commercial organization, minister-head of staff of the government David Harutiunian said at a government hour in Armenia’s parliament on Wednesday.
YEREVAN, September 11. /ARKA/. Management functions for Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concert Complex in Yerevan will be outsourced to a commercial organization, minister-head of staff of the government David Harutiunian said at a government hour in Armenia’s parliament on Wednesday.
The government decided to take over the complex against the outstanding debt and register it as the ministry of defense property at its meeting on August 21.
State agencies will fail to provide efficient management, so it should be dealt with by a commercial organization, Harutiunian said.
The head of the staff also said the building was in a sorry plight before it was handed over for private management, but today it is as splendid as before.
“We will be looking for an effective manager, a lessee or a potential buyer, and the entire process will be transparent. The funds obtained will be spent to increase Armenia’s defense capacity, that is why the complex has been registered on the ministry of defense books”, Harutiunian said.
The head of the government staff refuted allegations that Karen Demirchyan Concert and Sports Complex will be renamed or used as trading facility and stressed that the current name and proper use of the building will be part of the negotiations.
Before the takeover, the complex was put up for a forced auction seven times, but was not sold. The initial bid was 19.35bln drams (46.8mln dollars). Consequently, the price was lowered to the size of the company’s loan debt to the government (about 25mln dollars) and other liabilities (total of 25.5mln dollars).
Yet, the press office of the company says the evaluation was incomplete and the real value of the complex is not less than $100-$120 million.
Karen Demirchian Sports and Concert Complex was built in 1983. In October 2005, the Complex was sold to Russia’s BAMO Holdings for $5.7 million. The company obliged to reconstruct the complex. The reconstruction took almost three years and cost about $42 million. The building is considered a “masterpiece” of later Soviet architecture. ($1 – 409.69 drams). –0--
