Armenia to hand over Razdan power station to Russia by September 5

The Razdan thermoelectric power station will become the property of Russia by September 5 as repayment of a government debt. According to Arminfo news agency, this was announced by Director of the Power Station Albert Bagdasaryan. He said that the power station has not been used since June of this year due to the lack of demand for electricity after the opening of the Armenian nuclear power station. He added that the Razdan power station is valued at USD 31 million.

The power station will be the fifth and last facility handed over to Russia as part of an intergovernmental agreement to hand over state property as debt repayment. Razmik Dovlatian, a spokesman for the Georgian ministry of trade and economic development, said a protocol was signed by the Russian government on August 6, 2003, accepting the other four Armenian state facilities with a total value of USD 62.76 million. The Mars electronics enterprise was valued at USD 56.29 million and the three other facilities had a joint value of USD 6.47 million. The minister said Armenia owed Russia USD 93.7 million in total and that the handing over of these facilities will cancel this completely.

The initial agreement to hand over state property was signed in July 2002.