Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan visited the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures to participate in the discussion of the activity report 2023 of the Ministry.

Deputy Prime Ministers Mher Grigoryan and Tigran Khachatryan, Head of the State Supervision Service Romanos Petrosyan, other officials from the Prime Minister's Office, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure participated in the discussion.

Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Gnel Sanosyan and the deputy ministers delivered reports.

First, the works carried out in the field of territorial administration and local self-government were presented. It was noted that on November 7, the Prime Minister signed the decision "On approving the concept of decentralization of powers in the Republic of Armenia". At the same time, on the eve of the 27th anniversary of the introduction of the Local Self-Government System, by the decision of the Prime Minister, the concept of decentralization of powers and the program of its measures were approved. The latter is a long-awaited document as a fundamental landmark for the institutional development and modernization of the local self-government system.

With the adoption of the concept, the level of local democracy will significantly improve, the potential and capabilities of local governments will significantly increase, the quality of public services will increase, they will become more accessible and affordable. And all this creates solid foundations for the further sustainable development of the local self-government system.

It was reported that the works aimed at improving the work of the community management information system continue in the country. Currently, it is operated in the centers of 69 communities (except Yerevan and Gyumri) and in the administrative offices of about 730 settlements of these communities. With the help of community management information system, the local government has the opportunity to provide the majority of municipal administrative services to the population electronically.

It was reported that the local tax collection process has been significantly improved in the current year. From January 8, 2021, the Community Revenue Management System (https://e-community.am) was launched, which at this stage, with its operational capabilities, has almost completely automated the accounting and collection process of real estate tax and vehicle property tax.

The system has full interoperability with the electronic databases of the Cadastre Committee, Traffic Police, Treasury, State Register of Legal Entities, Population Register, banks and payment systems, which allows local self-governments, as local tax collection bodies to constantly receive up-to-date information on movable and immovable property belonging to legal and natural persons in their communities and more efficiently collect taxes.

In order to facilitate the process of paying local taxes, the https://pay.e-community.am platform has been launched since April 2021, which is intended for legal and natural persons paying local taxes. Through this platform, as of December 6 of the current year, 1.999 million electronic payments were made, totaling 34.5 billion AMD.

It was noted that currently Citizens' Service Offices are operating in 75 settlements of 56 communities of the country, where residents have the opportunity to receive about 30 community services reserved for local governments under the most comfortable conditions.

Those in charge noted that the role of CSOs becomes more important after the implemented administrative territorial reforms, in terms of organizing the process of providing services in newly formed multi-settlement communities. State services are also fully provided in 18 CSOs: State Register of Legal Entities, Real Estate Cadastre, Civil Acts Registration Services, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Police and Migration Service.

During 2023, 3728 citizens received services, the vast majority of which are related to real estate cadastre.

It was reported that the first sanitary landfill in the country/in Hrazdan/ and two transfer stations /in the settlements of Akunk and Martuni/ were built within the framework of the project "Management of Solid Domestic Waste of Kotayk and Gegharkunik Provinces". At present, the processes of acquiring garbage trucks for the introduction of an integrated garbage collection system in two regions are underway with British and French companies. It is planned that they will be delivered by July 2024. It is planned to build new landfills in 4 more regions.

It was reported that in 2023, 4.4 million USD of support was provided to the enlarged communities, within the framework of which the communities were provided with utility and agricultural equipment, minibuses, solar photovoltaic plants, as well as trash cans. With international partners, the provision of various types of support to the communities continued, among which capacity building and training have a big share. It is necessary to highlight the introduction of smart irrigation service in a number of communities, etc.

16 of the 46 schools planned within the seismic safety improvement program have been built and put into operation. Currently, the construction works of 20 schools are underway, the architectural projects of 10 schools are under examination.

It was reported that in 2023, structures of the regional administrations were reviewed, as a result of which the staff units were reduced by about 20 percent, from 1047 to 838. The functions of the staffs of regional administrations in each field have been specified, making them more targeted and effective.

The trainings of community servants continued. The staffs of the regional administrations were also trained. Starting from 2024, deputy heads of communities will also be trained.

It was noted that in order to increase the effectiveness of subsidy programs, changes are made in the subsidy procedure every year. More than 7 changes were made this year. During 2023, 382 programs and sub-programs were implemented with a total cost of around 51.3 billion AMD and 27.5 billion AMD were allocated from the state budget, and the community financing was 23 billion AMD, the participation of other investors was 790.8 million AMD.

Starting from 2018, within the framework of the subsidy program aimed at the development of community infrastructure, subsidy programs of around 156 billion AMD was implemented in the communities, and around 83 billion AMD were allocated from the state budget.

In 2023, Ararat region with a total value of subsidy programs of 8.83 billion AMD, Kotayk region with a total value of 8.6 billion AMD, Syunik region with a total value of 7.23 billion AMD and Gegharkunik region with a total value of 6.5 billion AMD are considered the leaders. The leading sectors continue to be asphalt paving (192 km), construction of kindergartens (5.5 billion AMD in total value), construction and repair projects of water supply and irrigation systems, with total values of 4.1 and 4.2 billion AMD, respectively.

During 2023, monitoring of 340 subsidy programs was carried out in 9 regions, of which deficiencies or problems were found in 181, of which they were eliminated in 120, and in the rest, the elimination of deficiencies and problems is in progress.

Regarding the program of 500 kindergartens to be built, reconstructed and overhauled (repaired) in the period of 2021-2026 stipulated by the Government’s Action Plan, 470 kindergartens are currently in different procedural stages, of which the works in 129 have been completed, in 33 they will be completed by the end of the year, and in 309 the works are currently in various stages.

It was reported that during the current year, 2 billion 766 million 920 thousand AMD was allocated to 9 regions in order to implement 24 urgent projects of a capital nature.

Turning to the road sector, the officials reported that in the sidelines of road infrastructure development, major and medium repair works continued, as a result of which 493.2 km of roads were completely asphalted in 2023, and more than 500 m of highway asphalting will be carried out until the end of the year. 300 km (45.7 billion AMD) were fundamentally repaired, 148.7 km (3.9 billion AMD) underwent average repair, 30.9 km of roads (12.3 billion AMD) were built under the North-South program, Armenia Territorial Development Fund repaired 13.6 km of roads (4.3 billion AMD).

The design works for the repair of Dilijan, Pushkin and Nalband tunnels have started and are in progress.

The construction works of the 32 km long Agarak-Kajaran road section will start soon. In 2023, the works to improve the safety of the road infrastructure continued, around 25 black spots were eliminated.

Within the framework of road network management, the condition of 1,600 km of roads were assessed, 600 km of roads were inventoried, and 3,420 defects were recorded.

420 units of vehicles/equipment are involved for winter maintenance of roads.

It was informed that in 2023, the works of introducing the unified route network continued. In Gegharkunik, Shirak and Aragatsotn regions, the tender is ready to be announced, in Tavush and Lori regions the tenders have been developed.

The process of regular certification for installation of gas cylinder equipment and gas cylinders continued. In 2023, 256 thousand cars were certified. 266,000 gas cylinders were checked, of which 3,000 were destroyed.

One company received a license to organize an airport taxi service. The company engaged 25 electric motor vehicles for the works in the airport area. The total investment of the company was 430 million AMD.

It was noted that currently there are 6 local aircraft operators in the Armenian aviation market, which carry out commercial international flights. Another aircraft operator operates domestic flights. There are also one helicopter operating company and one hot air balloon operating company in the market.

During 10 months of 2023, 38,066 flights were carried out at Armenian airports, with which 4 million 675 thousand 270 passengers were transported (including 2 million 332 thousand 328 departing passengers and 2 million 342 thousand 942 arriving passengers). In the same period in 2022, 28 thousand 757 flights were carried out, with which 3 million 12 thousand 561 passengers were transported. The increase in passenger flow for the mentioned period was 55 percent. The volume of transportation by Armenian airlines is 1 million 607 thousand 186 passengers, which is 34 percent of the total transportation, compared to 23 percent of the previous year.

Starting from April 2023, technical (pilot) flights have been carried out at Syunik's Kapan airport, and since August 21, "Novair" airline company has started regular flights with a frequency of 2 flights per week. By October 31, 2023, 14 flights were carried out. It is planned to carry out technical re-equipment works at the airport, which will allow flights to be carried out even in bad weather conditions.

In 2023, compared to the previous year, passenger transportation in the railway sector increased by 7.1 percent. The "South Caucasus Railway" company made investments in both infrastructure and rolling stock. An investment plan to build a railway from Yerevan to "Zvartnots" International Airport has been developed, which will be discussed in the near future.

The Government has approved the plan to extend the period of operation of the 2nd power unit of the Armenian NPP from 2026 to 2036. The cost is estimated at around 160 million USD, which is planned to be financed from the state budget through credit funds to be provided to ANPP CJSC.

Reference was also made to the construction of Iran-Armenia and Armenia-Georgia power transmission lines.

At the same time, in June 2023, the terms of the state support program for energy-efficient renovation of apartments and individual residential houses were extended. In the current year, 6,800 citizens used the program, in 2022 this number was 800. Loan funds amounted to 14.5 billion AMD, of which 800 million were subsidized by the state.

In 2023, the strategy for the development of the mining industry was adopted, by which the guiding principles of the sector were defined. The order of the Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure "On approving the list of affected settlements" was approved, according to which the disbursement of communities in 2024 will amount to 1.051 billion AMD.

It was reported that 276.1 billion AMD were allocated to the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure from the state budget for the passing year, of which 221.1 billion were spent. That is, as of December 1, the Ministry’s performance is 80.1 percent. Minister Gnel Sanosyan assured that by the end of the year the performance will increase and will ensure up to 95 percent performance.

During the discussion, Prime Minister Pashinyan referred to the enlargement of communities, the activities of regional administrations, including the development of capacities of employees of regional administrations, councils of elders in cooperation with international partners, and gave relevant instructions. Speaking about the construction of landfills, Nikol Pashinyan emphasized that there should be a concrete plan to clean the republic from garbage. "In this field as well, it is necessary to exchange experience with international partners," said the Prime Minister.

Nikol Pashinyan emphasized the strengthening of control over subsidy and capital programs and emphasized the need to ensure quality works. "There should be accountability in the direction of elimination of shortcomings. It is necessary to deal very seriously with the quality of all constructions," said the Prime Minister, adding that this is the guarantee of increasing the economic potential.

Nikol Pashinyan also referred to the works aimed at forming a unified route network, the spread and development of the electric vehicle charging network, the implementation of energy saving programs, promoting electricity production with new technologies, and increasing the potential of electricity export, and emphasized their consistent implementation.

Summarizing the discussion, the Prime Minister noted. "Dear partners, we have again set a goal to ensure 7 percent economic growth in 2024. Most of our capital expenditure is conducted through the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure and it is very important that tenders have already been announced. We need to make changes in our capital expenditures both in terms of pace and quality because the capital expenditures in 2024 are very large. Compared to 2018, we have a 300 percent increase in capital expenditures. If we make those capital expenditures with quality, it is very realistic to achieve 7 percent economic growth next year as well. We just need to implement these programs with proper quality."