Ex-employees of ex-chemical giant of Armenia - Nairit plant gathered  near the residence of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan

ArmInfo. Former employees of the ex-chemical giant of Armenia, the Nairit plant, on May 16, once again went out to protest - this time they gathered at the residence of  Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at Baghramyan.

Yesterday Armenian President Armen Sarkissian received them. The  agreement on the meeting was reached on May 7, when the president met  with former employees of the Nairit plant during a protest action in  front of the residence. During the meeting with the president, the  lawyer of the employees of the plant, Tigran Sargsyan, expressed  dissatisfaction with the plant's employees in connection with the  judicial system in the country, assessing the attitude of judges  towards the employees of the plant as biased. In the opinion of the  lawyer, the rights of the Nairit employees are violated, the judges  deliberately pull the lawsuits of the latter. Today, as they  reported, in the courts of Armenia there are lawsuits of 132 plant  employees who demand the cancellation of contracts signed with  Nairit-2, on which they refused fines and singing for non-payment of  salaries and agreed only to receive salaries. According to the former  director of the chemical plant Karen Israelyan, the amount of fines  and penalties that Nairit was obliged to pay for non-payment of wages  for a long period of time, amounts to about $ 15 million.  Representatives of the plant's employees also raised questions  related to the re-launch of the plant, and presented their vision of  this issue. They noted that the plant's problems had not been  resolved for years, and the actions of the former government in this  direction had not yielded any results. The President stated that  within the framework of the powers entrusted to him by the  Constitution, these issues were discussed with the leadership of the  system. He also noted the importance of discussing this issue with  the Armenian government. The main task, according to Armen  Sarkissian, is the revision of the professional revaluation of the  current state of the plant and the possibility of its re-operation,  as well as the potential interest of investors in this direction.  Meanwhile, on May 11, during a press conference, the chairman of the  Republican Union of Employers (RSA), economist Gagik Makaryan, said  that there is no sense in restarting the chemical giant of Armenia -  the Nairit plant. He explained that according to certain estimates  for the modernization of the plant, the replacement of filters, etc.  it is necessary to order $ 200 million, according to the estimates of  the government - about $ 300 million. However, according to Makaryan,  the amount of funds needed to restart the chemical company may reach  $ 1 billion. "Is it worth investing so much in rebuilding the plant,  considering a number of risks, in particular, related to import of  raw materials, transportation of products, retraining of personnel,  etc.?> Moreover, in the event of a restart, "Nairit" will become the  market for the Russian market, but according to the economist, there  is no certainty that Russia, in view of various circumstances, in  particular, connected with sanctions in one day will not say that he  refuses to buy rubber from Armenia. the number of jobs will be  about 4 thousand>, - stated the head of the RSA.

Nevertheless, some experts believe that it is impossible to abandon a  company that is unique in its essence.  Its modernization will lead  to a huge multiplicative and cumulative effect, which will allow  Armenia to restore the development of small chemistry - cosmetic  production, chemical reagents, production of special tires and rubber  products. Chemical production had a special place in Soviet Armenia  with its own personnel and special scientific potential. On the basis  of its own developments, it is possible to set up an inexpensive  production of highly demanded rubber anti-seismic cushions for  building buildings in seismic zones. At the plant "Nairit" the  scientific research institute successfully worked, numerous  developments of which are still being dusted in the archives.  Unfortunately, the plant for the past 25 years has been seen as a  "cash cow" for certain unscrupulous groups deliberately breaking up  production for personal gain.