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.
