Wednesday, June 13 2018 19:19

ArmInfo. The leadership of the holding "EU-Assia Business Financing Center" after meetings with the Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan and the Minister of Economic  Development and Investments Artsvik Minasyan is optimistic about the  restart of the Nairit plant.

On June 13, at the meeting with  journalists, the president of the holding Ashot Grigoryan, the  chairman of the holding and the head of the company "SynCo Gropu"  Samuel Bibak, the senior adviser of the holding Arshak Nazaryan and  the ex-director of the enterprise Karen Israelyan stated.

According to Grigoryan, during the meeting with the Minister of  Economic Development and Investments of Armenia, they received a  green light from Minasyan to restart the plant. They asked to conduct  an audit in Nairit, which will allow us to more accurately assess the  state of the plant and clarify the amount of necessary investments,  and as a result, a memorandum will be signed between the government  and representatives of the Holding on the commencement of work on the  resumption of the activities of the chemical giant.

The signing of the Memorandum, as Ashot Grigoryan believes "just  around the corner" - in a couple of months. The amount of investment  will depend on how many production lines will be launched. At the  same time, as indicated by him, 120-130 million EUR will be required  to fully start the plant. At the initial stage, the volume of planned  investments will be around 25-30 euros, in the future - an additional  105 million EUR.

In 2016, the former director of Nairit, Karen Israelyan, reported  that the holding of the EU-Assia Business Financing Center is  interested in conducting a technical audit of the Nairit plant (it  has been idle since March 2010. The enterprise completely stopped  work in 2014, and the total debt of the company approached the mark  of 50 billion AMD or about $ 130 million). Israelyan noted that the  representatives of the holding prepared a "Memorandum of  Understanding" for this purpose, a document that will soon be  submitted to the government of Armenia. It was announced that if the  government signed it, the holding company will be able to attract an  audit company to conduct a full technical examination of the  enterprise to prepare feasibility study.

However, on December 6, 2017, the Minister of Energy Infrastructures  and Natural Resources of the Republic of Armenia Ashot Manukyan  stated from the rostrum of the parliament that the EU-Assia Business  Financing Center never submitted a health program or a program for  restarting the Yerevan-based Nairit chemical plant to the government  of Armenia.

Meanwhile, on May 11, 2018, the chairman of the Republican Union of  Employers (RSA), economist Gagik Makaryan stated 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 government  estimates - about $ 300 million. However, according to Makaryan, the  amount of funds necessary to restart the chemical agent can reach $ 1  billion. In addition, in case of restarting, "Nairit" will become the  Russian market. However, according to the economist, there is no  certainty that Russia, due to various circumstances, in particular,  related to sanctions in one day, will not say that it refuses to buy  rubber from Armenia.

Nevertheless, some experts believe that it is impossible to refuse a  unique enterprise - until the end of the 1980s the plant's products  occupied 10-12% of the world market of synthetic rubber. 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.