ArmInfo. 560 rural areas of Armenia are still out of the water supply zone of the sole water supply operator - French company of Veolia, but the issue is to be solved. This was stated by Karen Karapetyan, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, at the Government session. Meanwhile, yet in November of last year, the State Water Committee, announcing the signing of new Agreement, stated that the policy of responsible entities should comprise inclusion in the Sole Operator zone of all those who are out of water supply and sewerage of Armenia.
According to Karen Karapetyan, the state policy in this respect should be aimed at mutually beneficial cooperation of public and private sectors. "It is obvious that it is necessary to implement the arrangements on financial recovery of the system as soon as possible," the Prime Minister stated, accentuating the importance of the complex record implementation in the sector of irrigation. It is necessary to develop an appropriate program on financial recovery of the irrigation system, stating exact steps and arrangements to be implemented.
As it was informed earlier, a 15-year term agreement will be signed with a new single operator of water supply and sanitation Armenia in November. The new operator of water supply single throughout the country with common tariff will start operating from January 1, 2017.
Consultant of Water Supply and Sanitation Systems in State Committee of Water Resources under the Ministry of Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources Mushegh Karapetyan informed ArmInfo's correspondent that preparatory work on holding international tender for choosing single operator of water supply in Armenia was being done since 2014. Three international companies: French operators Saur (manages "Armwaterchannel") and "Veolie Generale des Eaux (owner of 'Yerevan-Jur'), Italian Akea company (manager of Yerevan Jur in 2000-2005) and Armenian-German Consortium "AEG Service" (maintenance service of gas supply systems and water supply via Shirak water channel and Lori water channel") were competing for the position of single operator of water supply and water disposal. All the four companies passed the round of evaluation of technical proposals, on the results of the second round of tender French Veolia Environment SA was announced the winner. The company offered the lowest tariff on water. The relevant contract was approved by the Armenian Government on October 27 and will be signed by the company in the middle of November. As a matter of fact, starting from January 1, 2017 new single water operator will take management of five acting operators: "Yerevan- Jur", "Armwaterchannel", "Shirak Water Channel", "Lori Water Channel" and "Nor Akunq".
The State Committee have mentioned also the positive sides of the reforms. It turns out that as of today the five operators were servicing 410-420 communities in Armenia, mainly large towns and villages. No water was supplied to around 570 communities due to small number of population. The current policy of the responsible agencies is to include these territories in the zone of water supply. Karapetyan noted that in some of these communities there is no infrastructure at all and only when relevant water systems are installed the single operator will be able to manage these communities. For this reason the situation in these communities has been already studied and in 30 of them in various regions of Armenia investments will be made in the nearest future via state funds and loans. In this context it is expected to attract funds from Asian Development Bank, German Development Bank (KfW) and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).