Bus Factory Failed to Be Built: Will the Truck Factory Have the Same Fate?

On March 21, RA Minister of Economic Development and Investments Suren Karayan announced that a truck manufacturing plant is due to be built in Armenia. “At the invitation of RA Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan, the delegation of the Czech TatraTrucks company had arrived in Armenia earlier. I am happy to announce that it is envisaged to found a Tatra truck manufacturing plant in Kotayk region of Armenia based on the memorandum signed between Czech TatraTrucks company and Zenon LLC”, the minister noted.

This statement invoked recollections of the announcement of the RA Ministry of Transport and Communications on the eve of presidential elections in 2013, according to which a bus manufacturing plant was to be built in Armenia within 1-2 months.

Three years ago, according to an agreement reached between the ministry and “Ashok Leyland” company, the plant was supposed to produce buses of medium and large capacity. Within the framework of the project, an area on Mikoyan 18, Yerevan was given for rent to the German “MedAK GmbH” company for a period of 35 years for organizing the production. The rental fee for the coming 7 years was set at 1 million AMD.

Addressing this issue, former Minister of Transport and Communications Gagik Beglaryan announced that Armenian buses will be assembled in the plant using parts imported from other countries and the final price would be very affordable.

“If, for instance, a Ukrainian “Bogdan” bus costs 1 unit, the bus assembled here will be about 30% cheaper”, Beglaryan stated. The project envisaged creation of 100 jobs, and the specialists were supposed to get a requalification in the factories of the company.

However, to this day, the construction of the plant has not started. Our camera encountered only debris in the place of the envisaged plant construction site.

In response to our enquiry related to the amount received from rental of the state property on Mikoyan 18, we received a ridiculous response from the State Property Management Department of the RA Government, namely, “… we consider provision of information related to amounts as not expedient”. Our organization has already filed a lawsuit against this agency which is headed by candidate for Deputy from RPA Party Arman Sahakyan.

In the light of the aforementioned situation, time will show the extent to which the promise on building the truck manufacturing plant in Armenia will be fulfilled.