“They will give wages to their people. It has nothing to do with “Nairit”, the debts of the plant and working people. Several experts will come, will receive some 20-25 thousand dollars for the research and everything will end up, will end up for the very simple reason because “Nairit” has no prospects for working, said former Director of “Nairit” plant Gagik Nersisyan, in conversation with Aravot.am, commenting on willingness of the World Bank to assess the technical and financial feasibility for the operation of the “Nairit” chemical plant, providing 110 thousand dollars and inviting experts. According to him, the experts “one arriving from England and the other from Holland will make a tour, eat khash and barbeque and say that there is nothing to do here.”
Mr. Nersisyan said, “Should these experts be a little bit honorable people, they will come to see and say that “Nairit” cannot be reactivated, for the very simple reason that first and foremost there is no way for making approximately half a million tons of freight turnover. We do not have a railroad. As for Lars, it is closed for 8-9 months in a year. By which road should all raw materials for “Nairit” be imported? There is no raw material in Armenia for “Nairit” except for the brine, and if “Nairit” should work with its capacity of 80 tons per year, this means that we cannot solve even the problem of chlorine for receiving the needed amount of chlorine. For “Nairit” to operate completely, simple truth arises here – the Baku railway freight transport line should be opened, or else there is no other way. We have no other way for importing this amount of cargo.”
According to Mr. Nersisyan, the railway from Tbilisi to Armenia is for passengers and the line cannot stand the cargo weight. “When bringing in ten wagons of grain, they empty eight of them in Ayrum or Nalband.” The experts invited by the World Bank should also study the effects of the “Nairit” activities on the environment. Gagik Nersisyan is convinced, “Nairit seems like a bad barrel filled with dangerous substances and they want to burn it and spread the smell all over Armenia.” According to the former director, still during the years of his work at the plant, he has alerted about the dangers of “Nairit” to the environment. “The people who will receive 110 thousand dollars, they will say that there is no possibility of treatment, and the most expensive costs are made when environmental problems are solved – ecology is an expensive pleasure. We have the example of the tailings in front of us, no one wants to spend money, because they are huge money, but what guarantee is there that the new operator of “Nairit” will invest 1 billion USD to reactivate the plant, to buy raw material and will invest another 1 billion to solve the ecological matters.”
Lusine BUDAGHYAN
