Nikol Pashinyan: Today, 90 per cent of Armenia's population is supplied with gas, but more than 70 per cent of the population is heating the house with timber and gas is being used to make coffee. (video)
The National Assembly is discussing the question of the Yelk faction on the energy system of Armenia: the activities of "Electric Networks of Armenia" and "Gazprom" companies over the recent years. Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Ashot Manukyan, answering the questions of the MPs, noted that Armenia should become a transit corridor. "Today's technologies allow us to transfer gas in s non-physical way, we have the chance to get gas on the border with Iran, transfer gas to the border with Georgia; there is no need to build gas pipelines." Vahe Enfiajyan, a member of the Tsarukyan Alliance, was interested whether the import of gas from Turkmenistan was considered. The Minister's answer was positive. "I returned from Turkmenistan today, I camehere right from the airport and will say that the discussions are in process, but Turkmen gas is not competitive in terms of price. Ashot Manukyan also touched upon the nuclear power plant. "Once again I state that the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant is able to continue its work after some diagnostic work, after which we can determine how long it can work." After the question-and-answer, the head of the Yelk faction Nikol Pashinyan presented the questions. "We have separated two main blocks. First - why does the gas reach our homes for $ 280? How does that happen, while our authorities praise our country as one of the most modernized countries? Today, 90 per cent of Armenia's population is supplied with gas, but more than 70 per cent of the population is heating the house with timber and gas is being used to make coffee. Since 2012, the electricity tariff has increased every year, and we have a 50 per cent increase compared to 2012. The biggest problem of our energy system is the Bibin's effect, we do not understand wwhere that money goes to, we want to know how much the salaries in these companies are. They do not say that, reasoning as if they are personal data. We do not want you to tell us how much Poghos Galstyan gets. There is information according to which people receive USD 70-80,000 monthly salary in these companies." Eduard Sharmazanov, who presided over the session, recalled football player Poghos Galstyan after Pashinyan's speech. "Do you remember what the goal he scored "Baku Neftchi ", it seemed to me that you remembered him as a football fan." The discussion continues.
