The Armenian government will grant a three-year import VAT tax payment extension to A&M Rare Ltd., a Swiss company owned by former Armenian MP Gagik Abrahamyan and Sheikh Muhammed Musallami that plans to build a water bottling plant in the Kotayk village of Artavaz.

The government approved the extension at today's cabinet session.

The extension will cover some 115 million drams of VAT for equipment the company will import from March 10 until the end of 2019 from the UAE.

The company plans to draw water from two local springs in the project with an estimated value of $27 million.

In 2010 and 2011, the Armenian government allocated some 230 hectares of public domain lands to the company.

Property belonging to 126 of the 150 families living in Artavaz were seized, along with lands belonging to seven families in the nearby village of Pyunik.

In 2017, Hetq reported that 25 Artavaz residents filed suits with the European Court of Human Rights, asking that their property rights be restored.