It is a well known fact that development in Yerevan and in the outlying regions takes place on different levels. In remote regions straddling the border certain projects designed to create infrastructure and improve the lifestyle of the people are being undertaken. Questions remain however as to the quality levels of these projects and their envisaged deadlines and to what extent will they actually serve to improve the people’s mode of life.

In 2006, work began on the new 6.3 kilometer   Voskepar-Baghanis roundabout located on the Ijevan-Noyemberyan stretch of the Armenia-Georgia highway. The company “EnergyNetConstruction” won the huge governmental road construction contract and its name belies the fact that it has little to do with building roads. The company won the bidding competition even though it lacked adequate construction equipment and manpower. If the company did have adequate equipment it wouldn’t have gone to the “Levon the Second” corporation and asked for several such machines. If it had adequate manpower, the company wouldn’t have recruited village residents from Baghanis, Voskevan, Voskepar to serve in the construction crews. From the start, this stretch of road was intended to go into service as of July 2007. Later, the completion date was pushed back till August. A total of 700 million drams were earmarked for the construction of just this 6 kilometer roadway. Not only has the agreed upon completion date been breached but so have the estimated costs. On September 27, 2007 the Armenian government earmarked an additional 67.9 million drams to complete this seemingly torturous stretch of road construction.

While construction companies in other developing nations are fined for such time overruns, in Armenia they are granted additional financing. Gagik Safaryan, the chief of the construction project, had assured us that the road would be put into service as of November 2007. To make a promise is one thing; to implement it is something quite different. It is also amazing that several other huge projects in the border zone were granted to this same firm with little expertise in the road construction sector. Last year this same firm, in addition to the roundabout project,  was also undertaking a 330 million dram project to build a 10 kilometer stretch of road from Koghb to Zikatar as well as finishing work on a 25 kilometer stretch along the Georgian border. All this lays bare the fact that these construction bid competitions are purely for show; especially when a firm with inadequate equipment and manpower is undertaking a number of large-scale projects at the same time in the remote regions. Getting back to the Voskepar-Baghanis road project, we should note that it was planned for Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan to officially open the new roadway in November 2007. However, the road was built so poorly and unevenly that the roundabout, into which some 800 million drams was pumped, never had such a ceremonial opening.

Today, that stretch of road is open but no cars travel along it. Drivers prefer the more convenient, older stretch of road, and avoiding additional fuel expenses. It turns out that this road was built in case war with Azerbaijan suddenly breaks out. However, people along this stretch of the border live with the concerns they face today and not with the apprehensions of what might be. Or else, tired of eeking out an existence along the border they look to emigrate to find the meaning of life on foreign shores.

Whilst government resources are being utilized efficiently, it has been 15 years that six border villages in the vicinity of Voskevan, Koti, Baghanis, Voskepar, Barekamavan, Djudjvan and Voskevan itself, aren’t supplied with natural gas. Two years ago when Emma Hakobyan, the long serving Mayor of Voskevan, was being awarded the "Ananya Shirakatsi” medal by then President Robert Kocharyan, she asked for his assistance in supplying the community with gas. It will take several hundred million drams to resolve the matter but the money is nowhere to be found. The issue of water for irrigation purposes in the Voskevan border villages is an even more vital concern, especially water that can be delivered without the assistance of pumps. After the outbreak of Armenian-Azeri hostilities thousands of land parcels once irrigated by the Djoghaz reservoir straddling the border went dry since the pipelines passed through Azeri territory. It has been 17 years that these lands have not been irrigated. In 2006 the International Fund for Agricultural Development, with $2.9 million in funding, started to construct the 37 kilometer Voskepar-Baghanis-Voskevan-Koti gravity operated water pipeline. This pipeline, which starts from the Voskepar River, will allow for the irrigation of 1,100 hectares of land in the border villages of Voskepar, Baghanis and Voskevan. (Voskepar – 500 hectares, Koti – 380, Voskevan – 100, Baghanis – 70). This project was originally planned to go into operation by July of this year. Later it was decided to start the operation of the pipeline this November. The roadmap of the pipeline had to be altered when construction crews came up against hard rock walls and operation of the system isn’t envisaged to begin anytime this year. Even an operation start date for next year is questionable. Why?

Construction of the water pipeline is being carried out by three companies – Griar, owned by Grigor Harutyunyan; Aska, owned by Surik Poghosyan and the construction company owned by Hakob Hakobyan which has the responsibility for 11 kilometers of the pipeline. In the words of Smbat Gasparyan, who is overseeing the construction work, 2 of the companies have basically completed their tasks, except for some short expanses where the various pieces of pipe have to be joined together. It’s a different matter along the 11 kilometers for which Hakob Hakobyan has responsibility. Here only 7 kilometers of trench has been excavated for the pipeline and only 2 kilometers of pipe has actually been laid. Furthermore, 2 kilometers of trench travels through a mountainous stretch of nearly inaccessible land and must be blasted away. This company was forced to rent a “Kamatsu” tractor from a construction firm based in Ijevan since it doesn’t possess such heavy excavation equipment itself. Since Hakobyan’s firm never reached a daily wage agreement with “Kamatsu” operator, the man was since left the job. After this company won the bid for the contract, Hakob Hakobyan has run afoul of top Armenian officials and with the law. With all these problems on his plate Hakobyan was late in starting the job. In the beginning he entered into an oral, unofficial agreement with the Aska Company that it would carry out the work on that stretch of the pipeline that his firm had won the contract for. This agreement fell through due a variety of reasons and now Hakobyan must complete the work himself. But other problems have since arisen resulting in more construction delays. During this period there was a devaluation of the U.S. dollar and the IFAT organization’s funding is in dollars. In addition, due to modifications in the original pipeline schematics, the length of the pipeline has been lengthened and further financing is required. Gagik Matevosyan, the Director of IFAT’s office in Armenia, also agrees that additional financing is warranted. As to when such financing will come through and when Hakob Hakobyan will acquire the necessary equipment to complete his assigned stretch of the pipeline is anybody’s guess.