Violations in the Process of Residential District Construction

The investigation carried out by the Public Interests Protection Division of the RA Prosecutor General's Office examined the documents received from the Prime Minister's Office regarding the construction being carried out at 1/1 N. Tigranyan Street, Yerevan.

According to the Public Relations Department of the Prosecutor General's Office, in order to ensure the comprehensiveness of the investigation, necessary documents were also requested and obtained from the RA inspectorate for urban planning, technical and fire safety.

As a result, it was revealed that on March 2, 2018, the Mayor of Yerevan granted permission for the design of a residential district consisting of 5 residential buildings at the aforementioned address in the Arabkir administrative district. According to this, it was permitted to develop the construction project of the residential area while ensuring the necessary minimum distances of the above-ground parts of the structures from adjacent buildings and from each other, in accordance with current normative requirements.

On April 27, 2018, the Mayor of Yerevan provided the company with a construction permit for the said residential district. This was based on the design permission, the working project developed by a specialized company, the conclusion of expertise approved by another company regarding this project, as well as the conclusions issued by the RA Ministry of Emergency Situations and the “Environmental Impact Assessment Expertise Center” agency of the RA Ministry of Environment.

However, later investigations by the RA inspectorate for urban planning, technical and fire safety revealed that one of the residential buildings in the area was located 3.4 meters from an adjacent industrial facility, while another building was at a distance of 9.3 meters. In other words, the construction of the residential district in the industrial zone did not take into account the construction norm that requires a distance of at least 50 meters from the boundaries of industrial sites adjacent to public and mixed-use zones to residential and public buildings, as well as the boundaries of educational, preschool, health, and recreation facilities.

Moreover, numerous contracts were signed with citizens for the purchase of real estate in the buildings of the under-construction residential district, which have been officially registered.

The investigation established that the project prepared by the company responsible for the architectural and construction aspects of the development contradicted the requirements stipulated in the design permission and construction norms. Additionally, officials from the commercial company that approved the expertise conclusion, as well as officials from the RA Ministry of Emergency Situations and the “Environmental Impact Assessment Expertise Center” of the RA Ministry of Environment, issued conclusions with manifestly false content regarding the project, which were then submitted to the Yerevan City Hall by the company receiving the construction permit.

City Hall officials, in turn, ignored the requirements set forth by construction norms and the design permission. As a result, a construction permit with evidently false content was issued, causing serious consequences for the owner of the adjacent industrial facility and the citizens who signed contracts regarding the purchase of real estate.

In light of the revealed factual data containing signs of alleged criminal acts, a criminal case has been initiated under part 2 of Article 308 and part 1 of Article 314 of the RA Criminal Code by the Public Interests Protection Division of the RA Prosecutor General's Office. The case has been forwarded to the Investigative Committee of the RA for further investigation.

Note: The suspect or defendant in the alleged crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty in accordance with the procedures established by the Criminal Procedure Code of the RA, by a judgment that has entered into legal force.