ArmInfo. Armenia is set to overhaul its urban development sector by introducing an institutional framework designed to end "formal" or superficial technical supervision. Yeghiazar Vardanyan, Chairman of the RA Urban Development Committee, unveiled the sweeping reforms during a meeting with construction and technical oversight organizations today on April 30.
He stated that a cornerstone of the reform will be a new pricing policy that abandons outdated Soviet-era methodologies: Future construction budgets will be calculated based on real-time market prices; specifications will now include strict requirements for building materials to ensure predictable, high-quality outcomes. The new methodology will first be applied to the construction of educational and medical facilities across the country.
A rating procedure for organizations operating in urban development has also been approved. The Committee Chairman presented a preliminary structure of restrictions and privileges, and after incorporating suggestions from meeting participants, the final version will be submitted to the government for approval. "Organizations that demonstrate appropriate behavior will be able to compete with organizations in the same rating group when participating in tenders. Organizations with low ratings, those that win tenders due to low prices and those that fail projects due to low prices, will no longer be considered on the same level," the Committee Chairman emphasized. He also addressed the issue of proper technical control, emphasizing that the approach of all government customers is clear: strict regulations are needed. " We want to create an institutional system so that technical control is not a formality. We are currently discussing an initiative to implement the European technical control model in Armenia using a digital platform, as well as to double the percentage of technical control," Vardanyan emphasized.
