YEREVAN (Noyan Tapan)–"About $55 million have been spent thus far on the construction of the 5th power unit of the Hrazdan electric power plant. $10 million were allocated from the state budget–and the remainder was granted by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development," Executive Director of the Hrazdan power plant Samvel Yeritsian told reporters.
In 1992–the Armenian government and EBRD reached an agreement on settling the financial issue of the construction. EBRD was to grant $57.4 million in credit–and the Armenian government was to allocate $25.5 million–a total of $83 million.
But the construction of the 5th power unit was halted in September 1996–because an analysis conducted by a special government commission showed that an additional $100 million were needed to complete the construction of the unit. The EBRD had already allocated $42 million and the Armenian government–$8 million.
Yeritsian reported that today–$70 million are still needed to complete the unit. The construction is being carried out on an area of 45 hectares. The EBRD allocated $5 million to preserve the equipment and structures in case the problem is not resolved quickly.