City Hall's Bonus Fund Increased from 700 Million to 1.9 Billion Drams

The leader of the Prosperous Armenia faction in the Yerevan City Council, Mikayel Manaryan, and the faction's secretary Hripsime Arakelyan have expressed several concerns regarding the council's 2020 budget.

Hripsime Arakelyan stated that the city authorities have not fulfilled certain programs outlined in the 2019 budget, which has led to an increase in funds, as mentioned by Yerevan's Deputy Mayor Hayk Sargsyan in one of his interviews. 'One of the notable reasons is that around 1 billion 100 million drams have not been paid to Sanitek because the latter did not perform its duties properly. Thus, there has been some savings,' continued the faction secretary.

Arakelyan also raised questions about waste disposal, questioning how funds were saved if the council is obtaining money from elsewhere to address waste management issues.

The council member also referred to the programs outlined in the budget: 'To allocate 90 million drams for the demolition of emergency buildings of the 4th category, to allocate this amount for residents’ lease support.' According to her, no one understands which buildings are being referred to, and after some investigation, the faction realized it pertains to buildings 8 and 10 in Artsakh. 'Nothing is written; do you understand?' she said.

Arakelyan also touched on urgent expenditure matters, noting that there was no justification for how the 30 million drams planned for this year were spent, after which the decision was made to allocate 355 million drams for the following year.

The leader of the Prosperous Armenia faction stated that the city hall intends to create a community non-profit organization for greening, for which 3 billion 400 million drams are expected to be allocated. 'How did you calculate this?' questions Hripsime Arakelyan.

In turn, the faction leader Manaryan questioned why the contract with the organization responsible for cleaning riverbeds, which did not perform its work properly, has not been terminated, while in the case of Sanitek, the city authorities unilaterally terminate the contract.

Hripsime Arakelyan also noted that there is no mention of transport in the 2020 budget, nor is there a plan to alleviate the city's vehicle congestion through the construction of underground and above-ground parking.

Arakelyan also referred to the donation of around 20 KamAZ trucks to the waste management agency, which was highlighted by David Khajakyan, the leader of the Bright Armenia faction. 'What schemes are in play and who are the donors, and why were these 20 KamAZ trucks donated to our waste management organization? Today, we will try to understand which donors are being referred to.'

The council members also stated that the bonus fund has been increased from 700 million drams to 1.9 billion drams.