Avinyan believes Veolia Jur contract should be renegotiated

YEREVAN, 24 July. /ARKA/. Yerevan Mayor Tigran Avinyan said today that  Armenia's National Water Distribution Network, operated by French Veolia Jur (a subsidiary of France's Veolia Generale des Eaux), is not investing enough in improving the facility.

Veolia Jur pays the government a rent of about 9-10 billion drams for the use of the state-owned pipeline network. About 3-4 billion drams are annually allocated for investment programmes,’ Avinyan said, adding that 3-4 billion drams are not enough to solve all the problems of the capital alone.  

According to the mayor, it is necessary to build a large number of sewage pipelines and invest in reducing water losses. He also noted that the main logic of the discussions is that the rent paid by Veolia Jur should be used as investment to improve the facility.

Earlier, Yerevan Municipality handed over 6 proposals to Veolia Jur CJSC to revise the contract.

During the last three months, heavy precipitation in Yerevan caused problems in the operation of transport hubs and tunnels. In particular, not only streets and underground passages were flooded, but also basements of residential and industrial buildings, metro stations and other structures, which hindered the movement of transport and pedestrians.  

Yerevan Municipality pointed out the insufficient capacity of the city's storm water drainage system and the unsatisfactory work of Veolia Jur CJSC in cleaning the infrastructure.

On 1 January 2017, Veolia Jur took over the management of all water distribution networks in Armenia. The company won an international tender announced by the World Bank for the long-term management of the network. It pledged to modernise the outdated network and ensure 24-hour water supply to households. -0-