EcoLur
On 13 December the kick off meeting of the Public Council in the frames of "Supporting New Reforms in SHPP Sector through CSO-government Dialogue" project was held at EcoLur Press Club. On the agenda of the meeting was the presentation of the project and discussion of the powers of the Public Council. The main objective of establishing the Public Council is to unite civil society and stakeholder governmental bodies in one forum to develop SHPP-related reforms.
The Public Council consists of the representatives of RA Nature Protection Ministry, Ministry for Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources, Ministry for Territorial Administration and Development, Ministry of Emergency States, Public Service Regulatory Committee, National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Nature Protection and Agriculture, UNDP, WWF Armenia, SHPP Union, Public Environmental Alliance, Aarhus Centers and education and science.
Deputy Head of Staff of Nature Protection Ministry Ashot Avalyan outlined that rehabilitation program is carried out for each SHPP by Nature Protection Ministry based on the outcomes of the first part of the project on SHPP reforms (2014-2016). “SHPP developers are posed with the problems detected in the frames of the project and they are required to come up with solutions,” Ashot Avalyan mentioned.
WWF Armenia Director Karen Manvelyan mentioned, “Quite wide-scale works were carried out in the previous project. We needed such a project and we definitely its continuation was important. We have accomplished mapping of wetland or water ecosystems important in regard with the biodiversity in Armenia. We will soon publish all the maps and present to the stakeholders.”
National Assembly Expert Hermine Poghosyan mentioned that Armenia doesn’t have a SHPP construction standard. According to Hermine Poghosyan, if relevant standards are kept, damage will be minimized.
“Khazer” Environmental and Cultural NGO Advisor Aram Gabrielyan raised the issue of the efficiency of the works of the Public Council and proposed for the resolutions of the council to have added value in decision-making process. He outlined the problem of “DzoraHEK” SHPP saying this SHPP has rather large capacity – over 25 MW and shall be taken out SHPP list. For this purpose, the upper threshold of SHPP capacity shall be reduced from 30 MW to the former indicator – 10 MW.
According to Aram Gabrielyan, current procedures of issuing water usage permits shall be turned down and environmental standardization of the water usage shall be carried out only according to environmental flow amount. He also mentioned that dams shall also be banned, which change the riverbed and are illegal according to RA Water Code.
Yerevan Aarhus Center Coordinator Silva Ayvazyan proposed to include the representatives of Agriculture Ministry or State Committee on Water Industry, as the SHPPs impact irrigation water and cause problems for villagers.
Daniel Stepanyan, Head of Renewable Energy Department of RA Ministry for Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources, presented Hydropower development draft concept paper. “The project is in the stage of additional discussions with stakeholder ministries and it may undergo changes,” Daniel Stepanyan outlined.
He also informed the SHPP scheme adopted in 2009 didn’t actually work and this scheme shall be reviewed or annulled in line with PM’s assignment.
Insufficient and ineffective equipment of SHPPs was also discussed. According to Daniel Stepanyan, a draft governmental resolution has been prepared in regard with this problem. As Armenia has joined the Eurasian Economic Union, the draft shall be made compliant with the EEU regulations.
“EcoLur” Informational NGO President Inga Zarafyan mentioned that “National Policy and Program of SHPP Sector Development” draft shall be developed in the frames of the project, which shall include SHPP-related reforms aimed at reviewing and supervising governmental resolution on environmental flow, mitigation of cumulative effect on river ecosystems, preservation of the fish in rivers, improvement of requirements posed for the submission and approval of SHPP construction project documents and increase in SHPP efficiency. Inga Zarafyan highlighted that the transparency of the entire process shall be ensured in the frames of the project.
The material was developed in the frames of “Supporting new reforms in SHPP sector through CSO-government dialogue” supported by UNDP/GEF Small Grants Programme".
December 19, 2016 at 13:20