A ring of illegal construction sites has encircled Lake Sevan

Rich businessmen and high ranking officials have illegally built at least 150 houses near Lake Sevan in Armenia.

By Lena Nazaryan 
Published 2009/02/16
Medium: HETQ Online
Sevan, Armenia

Starting in the 1990’s, numerous buildings continue to be constructed on the shores of Lake Sevan – private houses, hotels, cafes. Frequently, they are built right on the shore at a distance less than 1,905 meter mark above sea-level, thus in the first sub-zone of Lake Sevan’s central ecological zone where the government has banned the construction of any capital structures.

And where the buildings will be submerged if the water level of the lake rises. Inga Zarafyan, President of the “Ecolur” informational/ecological NGO, has been active in problems confronting Lake Sevan for many years. Ms. Zarafyan states,

“The issue of illegal structures at Lake Sevan is complicated in that practically all wealthy individuals in the country have a hand in the problem. There are only a handful of the rich and government officials who don’t have a private house on the shores of Lake Sevan.”


Too close too much time
In its October 27, 2008 issue, “Hetq” published information regarding a private house built a few meters from the Lake Sevan shore, on the road from the village of Shorzha leading to the Artanish preserve.

As a result of a tender bid in May, 2008, the right to build on the land (9.6 hectares) was given to “Forik Ltd.” until the year 2033. The lease was signed by the Sevan National Park (SNOC) and Armenak Tigranyan, director of the company. This information was supplied to us by the Press Division of the Ministry of Nature Protection.

Violation of the meter marks isn’t the only problem inherent in these structures: any building permit for construction purposes in the first sub-zone of Lake Sevan cannot be for more than three years, whereas the signed lease is good till the year 2033.

According to information in the possession of “Hetq”, Aram Harutyunyan, the former Minister of Urban Construction who was appointed Minister of Nature Protection in 2007, is linked to the land and private houses in question.

No Connection to the minister
The Public Relations Division of the Ministry of Nature Protection responded that Minister Harutyunyan has no connection with that house. All the while, any given resident of Shorzha you meet will point out the “minister’s home”.

Anyone can visit that site by hailing a taxi and asking the driver to take them to Minister Aram Harutyunyan’s resort area. Without asking for directions, the taxi driver will, in a matter of minutes, will pull up before the gates of the building.

Mr. Bagrat Kroyan, director of the Architecture Division at the Gegharkunik Regional Administration’s Department of Urban Construction, states that the Gegharkunik Marzpet (Regional Governor) has ordered a statement to be drawn up regarding the violations and has instituted an administrative proceeding on October 8, 2008.

A 200,000 dram fine has been levied (Article 154, Section 1, of the RoA Statutes Regarding Administrative Offences) and the Marzpet has called on the police to halt further construction and has petitioned the Sevan National Park administration to nullify its lease with “Forik”. Mr. Kroyan states, “That as of December 24, 2008 none of the demands of the Regional Governor of Gegharkunik have been implemented,”

This investigation is done with support from the Danish Association for Investigative Journalism / Scoop.

To read the whole story in English, click here.

Or to read the original online-version, click here.