Villagers Forced to Heat Their Homes with Dung Inhabitants of the village of Aragatzavan, located on the Armenian-Turkish border in Aragatzotn Marz, have given up hope of ever seeing the blue flames of natural gas flicker in their homes. Villagers make due by heating their homes with whatever they get lay their hands on. They gather brushwood from the outskirts of town and cart it back by horse or donkey.

Back in October, 2006, the communities of Arteni and Aragatzavan entered into an agreement with a company called Man-Nakh. The contract stipulated that by December, 6.9 kilometers of a pressurized gas pipeline would be installed between the two communities and the relocation of another 1.5 kilometers would be carried out. The cost of the project was fixed at 89 million AMD. Company charged with embezzlement At the time the RA Police’s Talin Department was collecting evidence against the company. It was revealed that Man-Nakh had already collected 85 million in six payment transfers but had merely completed 44% of the job, equivalent to 48.3 million. Criminal charges of  Man-Nakh embezzling the remaining 36.7 million were in the works. The company finished the project but nothing has changed for the villagers. They still are forced to heat their abodes with firewood and dried dung. Andranik Papikyan, the community leader of Aragatzavan, told Hetq that the project called for the installation of 20 kilometers of pipe to supply the villages of Areg, Arteni and Aragatzavan. While Mayor Papikyan has no legal demands of the company, since it eventually was forced to finish the job, he remains irate that his border village has gone without natural gas lo these many years. Mayor fears the gas will never come “A 4 kilometer stretch of pipe should also have been laid under the aegis of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). Only half the job was finished. No work has been done for the past 3-4 years. No one has even visited the job site. The pipe installed to connect Areg, Arteni and Aragatzavan has already been looted. We caught some looters on two occasions and contacted the police. The situation is a mess,” said a concerned Mayor Papikyan. The Aragatzavan Municipality has allocated 16 million from its own coffers to get the gas flowing. The village of Arteni has chipped in another 3 million. “We have raised the issue many times. I don’t believe the village will get gas any time soon,” says Papikyan. Officials from the Aragatzotn Regional Administration have promised to look into the matter. Village also lacks drinking water The lack of gas isn’t the only obstacle faced by Aragatzavan residents. Potable water is scarce and villagers must buy it from a water truck that makes the trip from Talin every day. A bucket of the precious liquid costs 40 AMD (about 10 cents). Manouk Khoetsyan, the municipality’s chief accountant, told Hetq that Aragatzavan never really had drinking water to begin with. The local distribution system had only been set-up to supply water from artesian wells. The village has two such wells but the water is not safe for drinking. “The potable water problem will only be resolved when the higher elevation villages of Talin are supplied with irrigation water. Now, those communities use drinking water for irrigation,” said Mr. Khoetsyan. The Aragatzavan Municipality once attempted to get water flowing from Talin’s upper regions. It worked, but only for a month. Another problem raised its ugly head. Shepherds tending their flocks in the meadows broke a portion of the water pipe. They wanted the water for their own animals. Muddy water then flowed for several days and some residents came down with intestinal disorders. The community decided to give up on the water distribution. Mr. Khoetsyan says the pipeline stretches for 40 kilometers before reaching Aragatzavan and that they can’t place a guard every few meters or so to make sure the thirsty shepherds don’t damage it again. Local residents have long since accepted their waterless fate. Local and regional government agencies appear reconciled with their plight as well. Not one official has ever promised to supply Aragatzavan with water fit to drink.