VIDEO: I'm Not Rich Enough to Buy Cheap Products, Says Pashinyan

The government has decided to allocate more than 11.8 billion drams to the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure of Armenia to ensure the overhaul of state roads.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that extensive work is being done in the road construction sector, but problems related to the quality of work have not been resolved. “Quality-related problems continue to emerge, and of course, there are additional factors in some cases that contribute to this issue. However, our focus must be on the qualitative aspect of work. Apart from the issues concerning the quality of the roads, we also have the problem of vehicles traveling with weights exceeding the established limits, and our political decision is that we must have a system of road scales so that we can allocate public investments for their intended purpose,” said the Prime Minister.

The head of the Coordination Office of the Inspection Bodies of the Prime Minister's Staff, Arthur Asoyan, also mentioned that this topic is under special scrutiny. Relevant legislative changes have been made, and in the initial phase, there were two mobile scales that performed monitoring in problematic areas by being relocated. “Subsequently, certain problems arose with the scales, and we acquired two static scales and one additional mobile scale. The mobile scale is in operation and is located in the Armavir region, but we regularly change its location, as drivers immediately find alternative solutions when they learn about its position,” he noted.

According to Asoyan, nine main routes have been designated for the static scales in the Ararat and Vayots Dzor road segments. Since their launch, 522 constant monitoring operations have been conducted, resulting in administrative penalties amounting to 14 million drams, while 60 violations totaling 13.6 million drams were detected in 2022.

Nikol Pashinyan also emphasized the need to deliver the best possible outcomes. “They say it’s expensive, but there’s a saying that goes, ‘I’m not rich enough to buy cheap products.’ By constantly purchasing cheap goods, it seems that our resources are unlimited; when doing something, do it well and do it quickly,” stated the Prime Minister.