Yerevan Municipality Did Not Grant Construction Permit for the Area: Karapetyan on Tree Felling

The Yerevan Municipality unfortunately does not have the authority to prohibit or permit tree felling in privately owned areas. This was stated by the spokesperson for the Mayor of Yerevan, Hakob Karapetyan, on his Facebook page, clarifying the discussions regarding the tree felling that occurred the day before at 79 Baghramyan Avenue in Arabkir.

Karapetyan's post is as follows:
“The area in question was privatized years ago. Back in 2008, the owner's construction project was coordinated with the Yerevan Municipality, however, no construction permits have ever been granted based on that. Unfortunately, the Yerevan Municipality does not have the authority to prohibit or permit tree felling in privately owned areas. Moreover, the comments made by the representative of the RA Environmental and Natural Resources Inspectorate have raised some confusion, which could lead to misinterpretation. According to a publication by '168 Zham', the chief inspector Arsen Khachatryan stated that [related to tree felling] ‘the issue primarily stems from the lack of cooperation between the Environmental Inspectorate and the Yerevan Municipality. The Yerevan Municipality issues construction permits where viable trees are present, but the Environmental and Natural Resources Inspectorate is not informed about this.’”

We reiterate: the Yerevan Municipality has not granted a construction permit for the stated area, and the land alienation took place many years ago (journalist colleagues can clarify the circumstances of the land alienation from the Cadastre Committee).