Yerevan is Overloaded, Why Don't You Plan to Open the Academic City in the Regions? A Question to the Minister

At the joint session of the permanent committees on science, education, culture, diaspora, youth and sports issues and financial and budgetary issues of the National Assembly, Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Zhanna Andreasyan presented the financial indicators of the draft budget for 2024. The Minister considers the budget size of the Ministry for 2024 to be unprecedented.

“The budget has significantly increased; considering the dynamics over the years, we can say that this is an unprecedented increase, as such a large-scale increase has not occurred in previous years, we are recording an increase of this magnitude for the first time,” noted the Minister.

MP Narek Grigoryan from the ‘Civil Contract’ faction also directed several questions to Zhanna Andreasyan. In particular, he asked, “Given that Yerevan is already overloaded, why don’t you plan to open the Academic City in the regions?”

The Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Zhanna Andreasyan replied, “Discussions regarding the ‘Academic City’ program have always indicated that it should be located near Yerevan.”

“Nothing has changed; we will have new infrastructure in the area near Yerevan, which is at the intersection of several regions, which will definitely contribute to the development of the regions,” added the Minister.

According to Andreasyan, plans for new transport infrastructure are underway. “I believe this will significantly relieve the city because we will be moving a very large volume of operations to the area near Yerevan,” she mentioned.

It should be noted that two sites are planned for the physical location of the Academic City: the area adjacent to the 17th district of Yerevan, most of which is state or community property, and the area of the Hamо Beknazaryan named ‘Hayfilm’ film studio.