Epress.am News from Armenia
Urban development in the last 15 years has killed Yerevan — particularly in historical, cultural, environmental and seismic safety terms, environmentalist and Association for Sustainable Human Development President Karine Danielyan told reporters in the Armenian capital today.
“We already met with the fourth mayor and we didn’t find any document that determined that the 1971 city plan doesn’t correspond to the city’s new realities.
“Let’s close Getar River [which encircles downtown Yerevan and has now been covered in parts] — line cafes and restaurants on top of it. Tomorrow, climate change will come and thaw will begin; we’ll see how the pipes handle it. They forgot the flooding that happened in Yerevan. Residents of the street on which the Kanaker power plant is also located are in a struggle, that city hall allowed an establishment to be ‘planted’ on green space. When residents protested, saying that it’s not enough that it’s on green space, there are sewage and drinking water pipes that go below, the municipality found a solution — he will move them. Not the establishment, but the huge water pipes — the case is being passed on from one court to another,” she said, summing up several issues in the capital.
She pointed out that in the name of public interest, residents were evicted from the area in and around Northern Ave. and now there are ads in different Arab countries promoting the country: “Dear people, come, buy!”
“Preserving public interest are our green spaces,” the environmentalist said, adding that in recent years, Yerevan has lost at least half of its green space.