President held a consultation with the leadership of the Ministry of Urban Development

Today, President Serzh Sargsyan visited the Ministry of Urban Development (MUD). The President toured a group of structural units of the Ministry staff, familiarized with working conditions, inquired about upcoming plans and existing problems, as well as talked to employees about the works being done. Particularly, at the Department of Urban Development Policy and Spatial Planning President was introduced the electronic system of construction works permissions and its advantages. At the Department of Housing Policy and Communal Infrastructure the President familiarized with the works of housing construction in the framework of the state assistance in the disaster zone. The President also visited the “Urban Program Implementation Office” public entity where he was introduced the online oversight process of public construction works and the electronic system of the organization of construction contests.

After finishing the tour, President Serzh Sargsyan held a consultation with the leadership of the Ministry. The Minister of Urban Development, the Deputy Ministers, the Head of the State Urban Development Inspectorate and the Acting Head of Staff reported on the works implemented in the fields under their supervision, the existing problems and works being done to deal with those problems, as well as on the development programs. The RA Minister of Urban Development Samvel Tadevosyan presented to the President the main results of the 2012-2013 activities of the MUD, touched upon the current problems and the forthcoming works. Among the presented works the Minister stressed the importance of the introduction of the electronic system of construction works permissions which is intended to promote the simplification and regulation of construction works procedures and to decrease corruption risks. Samvel Tadevosyan also highlighted the strategic program of the formation of a social housing fund which is going to deal with the housing problems of needy social classes. The Minister noted that certain works on that direction had already been carried out.

The Deputy Minister Ruzan Alaverdyan reported on the problems of urban development programming and spatial planning, as well as the reforms directed to the promotion of business environment.

Another Deputy Minister Aleqsan Karapetyan reported on the creation process of the technical database of public structures and on forthcoming works.

The Head of the State Urban Development Inspectorate Sevada Hayrapetyan reported on the results of the inspectorate tests and the implementation procedure of the tests based on risks.

The Acting Head of Staff Vahan Khachatryan introduced the organizational structure of the Ministry, the works pertaining to the human resources and ongoing management and the steps taken to raise the effectiveness of the personnel management activities.

After listening to the reports, the President gave questions on separate issues, gave instructions to the staff in charge and touched upon the forthcoming tasks and the priority activities of the Ministry.

The President also answered the questions of the participants of the consultation related to the socio-economic problems, as well as the internal and foreign policy of Armenia. Particularly, answering the question whether the news arousing anxiety among the society about inevitable drastic inflation after Armenia’s membership to the Customs Union correspond to the reality, the President assured that there could not be drastic inflation no matter Armenia joined the Customs Union or not. In Serzh Sargsyan’s words, certain goods might fall in price, the others might become more expensive, but the drastic inflation was excluded. The President stressed once more that the membership to the Customs Union was driven by the interests of our people, and it was not only about the economy. The President considered inadmissible the dissemination of the news about drastic inflation and different such untrustworthy news and noted that the relevant bodies must actively give public comments in case of the dissemination of any such disinformation and must fully introduce the truth and reality to the public. “We should always remember that we already have a high level of media freedom in Armenia. Recently, the “Journalists Without Borders” organization published the 2014 report on media freedom index according to which the Republic of Armenia is a leader in our region and is ahead of all its neighbors. According to that report, in media freedom we surpass even some of the European Union states, including Greece, Bulgaria, not to say about Georgia, Ukraine and other states which are considered islets of freedom and democracy. This is indeed a very serious achievement. And this has not happened by chance. It is our achievement. But this achievement requires from all of us a new working style, requires additional efforts. Why? Because media freedom also means a dissemination of falsehood, gossips, aspersions and disinformation among public. Media freedom also means that certain groups of people driven by their narrow personal and narrow partisan interests can present the good work to the public as a bad one. It turns out that only doing a good work, signing a treaty, making a good decision are not enough in order for society to have an adequate idea about that decision, draft law and process. Look what is happening in our country. Some television companies, printed daily newspapers, dozens of websites, four parliamentary parties, dozens of political figures some of whom are offended from the authorities, throw dirt continuously, blacken both the events inside the country and our work. In this case, certainly, we must be very active in order to be able to deliver our decisions to our public, in order to also have public support in order to have a feedback,” said President Serzh Sargsyan.

At the end of the consultation, a group of MUD employees were awarded encouragements for their conscientious and effective work. The Chief Specialist of the Division of Urban Program Implementation of the “Urban Program Implementation Office” public entity Ruzan Adamyan, the Head of the Department of Housing Policy and Communal Infrastructure of the Staff Yevgenya Atayan, the Deputy Head of Staff Vahan Khachatryan, the Head of the Department of Urban Development Policy and Spatial Planning of the Staff Sonya Matevosyan and the Head of the Department of Technical Engineering Works and Technical Rationing Methodology of the Staff Levon Qosyan were awarded Letters of Commendation.