This Zebra Was Drawn a Few Months Ago, But What Is the Reason? Vahram Mirakyan

Businessman Vahram Mirakyan wrote on his Facebook page: “This zebra was drawn a few months ago. Now it’s hardly visible. You know this topic, the whole city is in the same condition. I remember that about 2-3 years ago, Hakob Karapetyan (former spokesperson of the Yerevan Mayor) wrote about the issue of poor paint markings. Why has this primitive issue not been resolved over the years? Because the main approach is to solve the consequences of problems rather than the causes. But what is the cause? In this case, the main reason is our government's tender system, where the project wins mainly based on one criterion—price. If the price is the primary condition for winning a tender, it means that the cheapest and lowest quality will always win. No matter what you do, anything done through tenders will be of poor quality because that is how the state system is set up.

Solution? The solution has long been developed in many countries. For example, only those organizations can win tenders that: 1. Allocate a mandatory portion of their profits to social programs within the year; 2. Are active in reforming their economic sector; 3. Offer local products or have local components; 4. Have at least two-plus years of successful experience in the tender field, etc. Now you might say that new businesses cannot benefit from tenders. Yes, of course they cannot; new businesses should not conduct business experiments with our taxes. After a few years of strengthening and gaining experience in the private market, they can then move to tenders.

But now the tender system in Armenia is such that any gambler can open an LLC, win the tender money, do a half-baked job, and buy a house in Spain with that money. By mid-year, they will need to do their job again, and the project will double the burden on the budget. But at least the 'cheapest' price has won.