Thursday, January 11 2024 20:16

ArmInfo. The GTB Steel company, which was forced to move the metallurgical plant project from Yeraskh  to the city of Ararat, will receive a loan of 3.5 billion drams from the RA government. The resolution was adopted on January 11 at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers.

In the summer of 2023, Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan  announced  the construction of a metallurgical plant in Yeraskh for  the  processing and production of ferrous metals, angles, and pipes.  He  noted that the investment amounted to $70 million, and the plant,   which is being built in Yeraskh by GTB Steel LLC, will be built on an   area of 16,500 square meters, the y-o-y production volume will be   about 180 thousand tons. 

Baku actively opposed the development of the plant. Enemy forces   consistently hold the enterprise under intense fire. The so-called  <ecologists>were also brought into play, in particular, in July, the   Azerbaijani government officially appealed to Armenia with a demand   to stop the construction of a large metallurgical plant in Yeraskh,   Ararat region of the Republic of Armenia. A letter from the Minister   of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan to the Minister of   Environment of Armenia stated that the operation of metallurgical   plants is recognized as an activity "that may cause a significant   negative transboundary impact." 

On December 14, 2023, the Cabinet of Ministers decided to move the  plant to the village of Ararat, Ararat region. As noted in the  decision of the Cabinet of Ministers, As a result of the full launch  of production facilities, up to 500  jobs will be opened (about 240  at the first stage).  The plant will be provided with a territory  with a total area of 89.1 thousand sq.m.  The required initial  investment is approximately $29.9 million. At  the first stage, it is  planned to build a plant for processing scrap  ferrous metal with a  y-o-y capacity of 100- 120 thousand tons; at the  second stage,  production volumes will be doubled, and a plant will  also be built  for the production of other metal structures and  products (pipes,  profiles of various sections, containers and etc.).  The y-o-y  turnover of the enterprise will be 200-250 million dollars.

As noted in the explanation for today's decision, the company has  already completed work worth about 2 billion drams (that is, a little  less than $5 million). In this regard, in order to finance the  project, it is proposed that the state-owned enterprise Development  and Investment Corporation of Armenia issue a loan of 3.5 billion  drams to GTB Steel with a y-o-y interest rate of 8% for a period of 4  years.