A regular Cabinet meeting took place today, chaired by Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan.

The Government adopted a decision to allocate 757,935 thousand AMD to the regional administrations of Aragatsotn, Ararat, Armavir, Gegharkunik, Lori, Shirak, Syunik and Tavush for the implementation of subsidy programs. Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Gnel Sanosyan noted that the sum is allocated for co-financing 15 projects in 15 settlements. The Minister also noted that the number of applications is increasing year by year. 363 applications with a cost of 74 billion AMD were approved in 2022, and in 2023 already 446 applications were approved with a total cost of 111 billion AMD.

Referring to the ongoing works, Nikol Pashinyan emphasized the need to evaluate not only the construction price, but also the operation period of the programs. "With both state and subsidy programs, we carry out a number of improvement works, where mostly concrete slabs are used. Our observations show that the use of concrete slabs is problematic, they fail very quickly. I have instructed that we seriously consider using larger and larger volumes of stone for these projects. Of course, we understand that here we will have certain price increases, but according to the conclusion of the Urban Development Committee, the work done with stone will last at least three times longer. I instructed the Urban Development Committee to evaluate not only the construction price, but also the operation period," said the Prime Minister.

In order to increase the capacity of the Tatev-Aghvani road and to ensure the uninterrupted transportation of goods by that road, the Government adopted a decision, according to which it is planned to allocate AMD 1,045,727,345 to the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure of the Republic of Armenia.

The Government approved the draft laws on making amendments to the "Code on Administrative Offenses", to the “Law on Local Self-Government", to the “Law on Local Self-Government in the City of Yerevan", to the “Civil Code of the Republic of Armenia". With the package of draft laws presented, it is proposed to empower the local self-government bodies not only to apply an administrative penalty in the form of a fine, but also to apply an additional administrative penalty in the form of confiscation of objects used in the course of trade or service provision in the cases of conducting trade or providing services in non-defined places and in violation of the requirements set by the legislation.

As noted by the Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures Gnel Sanosyan, this legislative package strengthens the tools of combating street trade in Yerevan.

Referring to the legislative initiative, Nikol Pashinyan noted that the biggest problem in our country is to establish institutions and standards. The Prime Minister emphasized that the Government should show decisiveness and set standards in the country.