VIDEO: The Quality of Road Maintenance in Armenia is Scandalously Poor, Says Pashinyan

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan addressed several issues that he has personally noted during today’s Cabinet meeting. He highlighted that the first problem concerns road maintenance.

“I was astonished and displeased to note that the quality of road maintenance in Armenia is, to put it mildly, scandalously poor. Moreover, there is a habitual problem here. There are things that we look at but do not notice. If it’s snowing, the normal reaction for all of us is that the companies responsible for road maintenance should go out and start clearing the snow; there is nothing surprising about that. In recent years, there have been some qualitative changes in this sector. But what about when it rains? I have witnessed that when it rains, rainwater collects and is dumped onto the road. Nothing happens for one day, two days. It gives the impression that everyone is waiting for a more constructive rain that will come and clean up what has been dumped. The third situation occurs when neither snow nor rain has come, but no one thinks about cleaning the roads because heavy trucks run through them. We have established that the sand should be covered, yet it spills between the trucks; the wheels bring sand, stones, and gravel, and the wind carries it away, but no one thinks that these roads should be cleaned on a daily basis. Moreover, I have noted that in the decisions adopted by the government, it is precisely stipulated that there is a company responsible for road maintenance that must clean the roads every day, regardless of the weather. We addressed this issue in 2021, stating that we were setting new prices and holding new quality competitions to keep the roads clean,” said Pashinyan.

For more details, watch the video.