Video: Sand from Trucks Always Spills and Damages Asphalt, Only 20 Million Drams in Fines Over 5 Years

During the National Assembly session on October 24, Petros Martirosyan, head of the office for coordinating the activities of inspection bodies within the Prime Minister's Staff, announced that new regulations would be established for assessing the impact of economic activities on the atmosphere. He presented a legislative package intended to amend the Law on Atmospheric Air Protection and the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Republic of Armenia for the first reading.

According to Martirosyan, it is proposed to assign control over the transportation of construction waste to local self-government bodies along designated routes and specific areas, aligning the law with the provisions of the administrative offenses code.

“We are removing the provision from the administrative offenses code that gave the inspection body overseeing environmental legislation—specifically the Environmental and Mining Inspection Authority—the authority to control the placement of construction waste in unauthorized areas, thus eliminating duplications within the code, since a similar authority is also granted to local self-governing bodies,” he stated. He clarified that the project aims to regulate the transportation of already existing waste, as both agencies were previously overseeing this aspect. The current obligation-shifting mechanism is being abolished, placing this responsibility solely on local self-governments going forward.

Sergey Bagratyan, a member of the “Civil Contract” parliamentary group, urged the development of regulations that would not hinder businesses in communities and suggested that the amounts of fines need clarification.

Addressing the fines, Martirosyan mentioned that the fines range from 150,000 to 300,000 drams and expressed the opinion that this amount would not pose significant issues for construction companies. He did not rule out the possibility of modifications regarding the scale of administrative offenses after the law's adoption.

Accompanying reporter, Aren Mkrtchyan, from the “Civil Contract” parliamentary group, pointed out the functional overlap between the inspection body and local self-governments. “To avoid duplications, we are placing the primary responsibility on the shoulders of local self-governments because they are naturally better equipped to handle both logistical and local challenges,” Mkrtchyan asserted.

Sisak Gabrielyan, another member of the “Civil Contract” group, noted that the article being amended had been applied several times over the past four years, primarily when sand spills from truck beds, with the current penalty set at 5,000 drams. It turns out that only 20 million drams in violations have been recorded in this regard over the last five years.

“During vehicle movement, this cement-concrete mixture spills out and damages asphalt worth tens of millions of drams. At one point, the state traffic inspector stopped me and said, ‘I’m giving you a fine of 5,000 drams, but look at how much damage it causes,’” Gabrielyan recounted, emphasizing that these vehicles have damaged more asphalt over the past five years than the total amount of fines, which stands at 20 million drams.