Thursday, 8 August 2013
Pension Settlement Problems Ruled Out Ahead
A Cabinet sitting was held today, chaired by Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan.
In his opening remarks before the meeting, the Prime Minister referred to the steps carried out in the direction of improving the procurement process, the quality of public services and the estimate of the gross domestic product (see separate).
Tigran Sargsyan next addressed the delay in payment of pensions which affected some 1400 pensioners on August 4-5 due to the fact that the lists had not reached HayPost in a timely manner.
“I have instructed the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, as well as the Prime Minister’s Control Service to conduct a probe. We have to admit that despite those fundamental changes made in this area, some internal resistance can still be noticed as to the introduction of the new system. For the first time, pension is paid on the basis of an electronic database. Many do not like it and are trying to demonstrate that pensions should alternatively be administered through paper documents. You may understand that paperwork resulted in greater corruption risks as it was extremely difficult to exercise full control over the process. We apologize to our citizens for the inconveniences caused and long queues. They were due to the launch of the new system and the resistance that came in the aftermath. The Minister assured me that no such problems will occur in September, and our senior citizens will continue getting their pension in a timely manner.”
The Government extended by one year the validity of one of its previous decisions, allowing the citizens of the Republic of Lebanon and the Syrian Arab Republic to obtain Armenian passports at the diplomatic missions and consular offices of the Republic of Armenia.
The provision of an earlier decree stipulating that the citizens of EU member States and those non-EU member countries abiding by the Schengen provisions of the European Union should be exempt from visa requirements in Armenia will henceforth be applicable to the citizens of Croatia, which as of July 1, 2013 became a member of the European Union.
The Government approved an amendment to the November 23, 2010 agreement on the Cyclotron Project as concluded between the Government of Armenia and Ion Beam Applications. The amendment was necessitated by a subsequent update to the list of supplies – a proton beam direction tube - as well as the possibility of extra planned work.
To ensure smooth operations of Radioisotope Production Hub CJSC, the Government announced a public tender to pick out a trust manager for the Company and approved its statute.
The meeting approved a draft financing agreement between the Republic of Armenia and the Bank of Recovery of Loans to be concluded in a bid to rehabilitate the Kapsi Reservoir on the Akhurian River in Shirak Marz of Armenia. Meant to have a capacity of 60 million cubic meters, the reservoir project started in 1985, but the construction was halted in 1993, when the height of the dam was only 20m instead of the planned 73 meters. The unfinished project poses threats to downstream settlements and infrastructures. At the same time, the reservoir can contribute to the development of agriculture in the region and, therefore, additional rehabilitation options have been considered.
The German KfW has expressed readiness to support the project, and a tender is already out to that effect. The cost of the project is Euro18.5mn to be funded under a bilateral arrangement. The German bank is ready to provide a grant of 350 thousand euros for the feasibility study.
A large-scale program of modernization of Public Administration Academy of Armenia has been launched that makes it necessary to upgrade the premises. The Government decided today to hand over to the Academy for free use an administrative building situated at Orbeli-23 in Yerevan and the adjacent plot of land, which is currently run the government-affiliated State Property Management Department by the Government.
