ArmInfo.The shortage of cement in the Armenian building materials market may be artificial. Gegham Gevorgyan, Chairman of Competition Protection Commission, stated this on October 20 at a government meeting in response to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's statement that there is a shortage of cement on the market due to an increase in construction volumes.
" We are now studying the market, but there is concern that the deficit could have been caused by artificial causes," Gevorgyan said. In response, Pashinyan called for the initiation of proceedings on this issue.
The head of the Cabinet said that there have been no state-owned construction companies in Armenia for several decades. "Of course, in recent years, private companies have opened in Armenia, but we note that the capabilities of construction companies do not correspond to the benchmarks set by the government. We draw the attention of private investors to the fact that there is a sector in which you can invest and make a profit," Pashinyan said.
According to Pashinyan, it is precisely the lack of capacity of construction companies that causes the traditional underperformance of state capital expenditures. "Construction is not always done on time and with proper quality, and now we see that the underperformance of capital expenditures is also associated with this, but this does not mean that we should transfer all this to the private responsibility sector. We also have something to do, in particular, continuous reforms of the procurement legislation," said the Prime Minister.
Nevertheless, Pashinyam notes the growth in construction volumes (in January-August 2022, the construction sector increased by 14.2% -ed. note) and the inability of local cement producers to provide the market. "For this reason, since October 10, the current duty on imported cement has been reduced. Hope this solves the problem. On the one hand, this is good from the point of view that the country has a very large volume of construction, on the other hand, it is not good that the construction process may slow down due to this," he said.
It should be reminded that earlier the MPs of the ruling party suggested completely abandoning the state duty on imported clinker, a raw material for cement production, and reducing the state duty rate on imported Iranian cement from the previously proposed 9,000 drams to 2,000 drams.
There are two cement plants in Armenia - Ararat and Hrazdan, small volumes are also produced by the Yerevan GYPSUM PLASTER FACTORY.
