City Hall to Pay New Operator 600 Million Dram More than Sanitek, Says David Khajakyan

The City Hall will now carry out waste collection at a higher cost than before. This was stated by David Khajakyan, the leader of the Bright Armenia faction of the Yerevan Council, in an interview with NEWS.am, referring to the fact that the City Hall will pay the new operator 600 million drams more than it used to pay to Sanitek.

"The new operator is being paid 600 million drams more, but this does not include capital investments. Previously, the City Hall paid Sanitek 5.2 billion drams, which also accounted for the capital investments made by Sanitek. The value-added tax was calculated on that amount as well. Now the capital investment component has been separated; they have already made several billion in contributions and are planning another 1.1 billion in capital investments next year, in addition to 4.6 billion drams for the maintenance expenses of the municipal institution. If they carry this out as a private organization, it will cost 5.6 billion drams, excluding capital investments, making our service cost more expensive than that of a private entity. This means that the claims made by the City Hall of making it cheaper do not correspond to reality," he said.

Khajakyan rated the current state of sanitation in the capital as inadequate: "True, unlike before, garbage is not spilling out of garbage bins, but the state of sanitation remains poor. They are working poorly, and they admit that their performance is lacking, which I consider inadequate."

It is noteworthy that, according to the City Hall's budget plan for 2020, around 600 million drams more is being allocated to the new organization than was provided to Sanitek.