WORSHIP OF MONUMENTS HINDERS CITY’S DEVELOPMENT, SAYS CHIEF

WORSHIP OF MONUMENTS HINDERS CITY’S DEVELOPMENT, SAYS CHIEF ARCHITECT OF YEREVAN
The Chief Architect of the city of Yerevan Narek Sargsyan has accused 5 environmental NGOs of having extremist views. A few days ago, the 5 NGOs complained at a press conference against the decisions of the Mayor’s Office to allocate land in the “Victory” park for a hotel construction. According to Sargsyan, the 3.5 million dollar hotel will cost 15-20% more to build in the park than in any other location, because the site will have to be cleared and trees will be planted. He insisted that the construction of the hotel will be in the interests of the city and of the park itself. The 5 NGOs claim that any construction in the park is illegal, since the park is a historical monument. The Chief Architect today stated that the worship of monuments hinders the city’s development.
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Article 66, Constitution of Armenian SSR - "The care and protection of historical monuments and cultural artifacts is a duty of each Armenian citizen".

New republic, new values presumably.