Julietta and her husband Edison reside in the Syunik Province village of Vaghatour.

When I visited this rural community, the husband and wife complained that the water flowing from their taps could only be used for cleaning, not for drinking.

Residents get their potable water from natural springs nearby. Back in the Soviet era, this water was bottled and sold as mineral water.

Edison was sitting patiently on the roadside, waiting for the delivery of a damaged tractor part he had sent to Goris for repair.

“Without that part I won’t be able to harvest any pasture grass this year,” he said.

Julietta and her husband Edison

While the couple complain about the water and rise in electricity rates, they say the first priority for the village is to repair the road that connects Vaghatour with Goris. It is often impassable in sections due to heavy spring rains and landslides.

Thus there is no public bus service between the two. Residents say that candidates made a bunch of promises on the matter during the last presidential election; promises that have never been fulfilled.

“The former provincial governor promised to get a bus running. He left and we haven’t even seen his replacement,” said one resident.

Darcho Hayrapetyan, another Vaghatour native, asked Hetq to write about a mine that exploded some ten meters from his house this past April. No one was injured as a result of the blast, but all the windows in the house were shattered and the dining room ceiling cracked.

Darcho Hayrapetyan

“An emergency crew came along with the police to investigate. They disappeared the next day without providing me with one square meter of replacement glass. The windows have been covered with plastic sheeting ever since,” complained Mr. Hayrapetyan.

Vaghatour community mayor Hovhannes Hovhannisyan agrees that fixing the roads is his top priority.

“People pay their taxes on time but our community resources aren’t enough to fix the roads,” said Mayor Hovhannisyan, adding that they have petitioned high and low for assistance.

The mayor laments his decision to close the community library, due to a lack of readers. The books have been transferred to the school.

So far this year, 14 children have been born in Vaghatour but Hovhannisyan says it isn’t enough to sustain the village located on the border.

“These people have seen war and death. More kids must be born to keep the village strong,” Mayor Hovhannisyan says.

Despite these problems, the mayor proudly says that after much effort Vaghatour will be supplied with natural gas; hopefully by October of next year.

But construction has been halted because the village has failed to come up with its 14.5 million AMD share of the financial resources for the project. The matter is no under litigation.

While the outcome of the matter is yet unclear, Mayor Hovhannisyan is certain that the blue gas will markedly improve living standards in Vaghatour.