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.