We Have Restored Areas That Never Had Green Spaces: Begoyan
This year, the addition of new green spaces in Yerevan has reached 13.5 hectares. Thus, over the past three years, Yerevan has increased its green spaces, where there has never been any greenery, by nearly 60 hectares. This was stated today during a press conference by Armen Begoyan, the director of the 'Greening and Environmental Protection' NGO, adding that the green areas added to existing parks are not included in that figure.
“Here, I should mention an important fact: the public green areas for public use in Yerevan, excluding yard areas, total 850 hectares. Adding this 60 hectares from the last three years, we arrive at 910 hectares. We can say that we have reached the level of the Soviet Union’s green fund. During the best periods of the Soviet Union, according to our data, the green fund of Yerevan city comprised 908 hectares, and if we base ourselves on previous data and add this newly created 60 hectares, we get 910 hectares.
Now our citizens might think, ‘Well, we see there was a green area here, but you didn't restore it.’ However, instead, we have restored areas where there have never been green spaces at all. As for the existing areas, for example, in Norq Marash, we have restored the parks as much as possible. There used to be 20 hectares there, but they were previously sold under construction. What still belongs to the municipality, seven hectares of that, we have restored,” said Begoyan.