Friday, December 6 2019 17:07

ArmInfo. Celebrating New Year and Christmas in Yerevan will be held on an unprecedented scale: the capital city administration intends to spend about $ 700 thousand (326 million drams). Deputy Mayor Hayk Sargsyan announced this on  December 6 at an extraordinary meeting of the Council of Elders of  Yerevan. In particular, 121 million drams (about $ 253 thousand) will  be spent on the services of contractors, and the rest will be spent on the purchase of equipment, the production of decorations and more.

Tehmina Vardanyan, member of the "Luys" faction of the Council of  Elders of Yerevan, also stated that the year will be unprecedented in  terms of costs. According to her, annually New Year's expenses did  not exceed 40-50 million drams ($ 80-100 thousand). Moreover, last  year a Christmas tree worth $ 75 thousand was purchased, which caused  discontent in society. <Now I want to understand how you decided to  allocate so much money for New Year's expenses, at a time when we  have so many unresolved issues>, she asked.  "Mr. Sargsyan states  that an overhead crossing will be built - an overhead crossing worth  44 million drams. Why? We have refused the construction of  overhead  crossings in the 5-year activity program, although this is extremely  important. But buildings are crumbling from" old age ", citizens are  starving and we spend a million dollars on organizing holidays? This  is unacceptable ",  said Vardanyan.

It should be noted that, by the decision of the government, a total  of 271.8 million drams were allocated this year throughout the  country. An additional 54 million drams allocated by the budget of  Yerevan will be added to these amounts. Later it became known that  the Municipality of Yerevan intends to increase the costs of events  by another 270 million drams. According to the draft decision, which  was discussed today at an extraordinary meeting of the Council of  Elders, the organizers are going to rent large LED screens for the  indicated amount. The document was adopted by 41 votes in favor, 5  against, with 2 abstentions.