Shoddy Construction Work in Komitas
Komitas, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2007
After chatting with Garo (aka Christian Garbis) from Notes from Hairenik last night about traffic congestion in Yerevan and the haphazard and sloppy manner in which road and other repairs are undertaken here I decided to photograph the streets on my way first to the bank near where I live at the beginning of Komitas and the supermarket at the bottom of Kassian. Both are my local neighborhood, and perhaps sloppy isn’t the right word. Negligence by those doing the construction work is probably more to the point.
Open manhole covers as well as building materials and debris left lying around have made a three or four minute journey a safety hazard for pedestrians and motorists alike. It used to be that inhabitants could rightly say that the roads in Yerevan were far better than in Tbilisi, capital of the neighboring Republic of Georgia, but that now appears to be no longer the case from my experience from three visits there in the past year and a half.
[Note: this post was just truncated by Wordpress because of perpetual problems with the lousy internet connection here. I probably won’t find the time to add what’s now missing, but the rest of the photos have now been restored].
Komitas, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2007
I was thinking of buying a used-old Zhiguli to drive to work and back, but changed my mind after the road works near Rossia Cinema Theatre, as it has become completely impossible to drive through there, which I would have to do twice a day.
And generally - I’m starting to think about moving back to Gyumri or going somewhere else (Tbilisi would be most preferable I guess) - Yerevan is no more suitable to live in and raise one’s children!
Comment by Observer — July 8, 2007 @ 5:48 pm
Just to clarify about what was here in this post before it got frazzled, I linked to a post by Observer here and also to one by Garo here. As I also mentioned concerns about the quality of construction on the infamous Northern Avenue and the fact that many environmentalists and engineers think they’re going to come down in an earthquake, Burnell at Blogrel has also made a related post here.
Given the destruction of Yerevan’s parks and associated concerns with the current land grab in various parts of Yerevan as well as really shoddy construction works, it all becomes more and more of a concern with each passing day. Unfortunately, Observer, when they run out of space in Yerevan I’m sure they’ll then turn their attention to Gyumri and other locations whenever money can be made from doing so.
Meanwhile, metal detectors are now apparently common in some Yerevan nightspots because of concerns about guns and knives while some of the cafes owned by officials in what used to be parks now have their own armed security details. From recent nights out and one or two incidents I witnessed, I’d say it’s now becoming less safe to walk around in Yerevan. Certainly, I’ve seen or heard about a few incidents on the streets, and had quite a few shootings and murders on my doorstop in the entertainment complex that used to be a lovely park.
Now, it’s just a joke. Well, not a joke really because it’s not funny. What’s happening to Yerevan is a disgrace and I’d say that any hope of a real urban development plan for the city went out the window long ago. It’s anarchy and usually illegal (until they then pass laws to actually legitimize the insanity that is, or just issue a political order to a judge or municipality worker to turn a blind eye).
Comment by Onnik — July 9, 2007 @ 12:12 am
Looks like a typical Armenian style road construction. It was like that during the Soviets, too.
I don’t see a single worker or a piece of machinery - where are they?
Comment by nazarian — July 9, 2007 @ 2:34 am
awful isn’t it? My everyday walk to work resembles a walk through a war zone
Comment by Marish — July 9, 2007 @ 9:28 am
Nazarian, so it’s always been shoddy and hazardous so why should it be any different now we’re well into the 21st century? Well, what did they say? The U.S. Embassy brought in a lot of Turkish construction workers because the local ones weren’t up to the task.
Others point to signs that some of the new construction on Northern Avenue is crumbling already, and road repairs never seem to last more than a few months before they need repairing again. Of course, corruption and siphoning off part of the budget through using less or low quality materials is another issue.
Anyway, as for the workers, there were none about because it was Sunday. I’ll check later today although either way we’ve got a long wait before something that the Georgians can do quicker and better organized in Tbilisi actually gets done.
Things seem organized there in comparison to Yerevan and that’s saying something in the South Caucasus although it’s still all somewhat relative when compared to the outside world.
Anyway, the general consensus in the Armenian blogosphere so far is that such sights are not what we’ve been used to, but in the past few years the city has become a dust bowl full of terrible new architectural designs and incompetent and substandard workmanship.
Add to that the lack of green spaces and environmental protection and I’d say it sounds far worse than it ever was although the general reason why things are so shoddy and substandard might be the same as in the Soviet era. I don’t know, but it needs to change.
Comment by Onnik — July 9, 2007 @ 9:57 am
Anyway, just got back and the workers are hard at work so I guess that they get Sunday’s off. However, I was thinking. When I’ve seen road and street repairs in the regions they’re usually conducted with more order than this. Of course, I don’t live in the regions so can’t say for sure, but anyway, that was my impression.
Only thing left to say is that if this situation lasted for a few weeks it would be a nightmare. However, this has been the situation in my neighborhood for the past two years Most drivers will tell you that it’s at times impossible to drive up here, and the roads even have gaping holes or crevices in them which at night are really dangerous.
A few weeks ago I was in the car when a friend was driving and the one of the front wheels went down one of them. I’m sorry, but I don’t think it’s too much to demand that such road safety hazards are marked and actually cordoned off.
Comment by Onnik — July 9, 2007 @ 12:36 pm
just fyi, on July 11 there will be a discussion on the whole issue of construction/ecological hazards/traffic regulation at Congress hotel.
Comment by Marish — July 9, 2007 @ 1:21 pm
Thanks for that info, Marish. Can you post more details in this comments section?
Thanks in advance.
Comment by Onnik — July 9, 2007 @ 1:25 pm
Incidentally, I posted something on traffic congestion and safety in Yerevan, Baku and Tbilisi here.
Comment by Onnik — July 9, 2007 @ 3:48 pm
Onnik, it’s true that there is a shortage of competent construction workers in Armenia. Try finding builders to build a house! All the good ones are taken. Even the mediocre ones are taken (probably doing the Northern Avenue construction
). It’s really sad when a builder, who comes from a nation dubbing itself a nation of builders (shinarar azg), can’t put three rows of stones in a wall without 1 inch of error between the bottom and the top of these three rows.
Comment by nazarian — July 9, 2007 @ 7:45 pm
Onnik, the speakers will be Gurgen Musheghyan from Yerevan Project, Karine Danielyan from For Sustainable Human Development Association and Alexandr Sahakyan who is a traffic regulation expert. As I mentioned previously the event will be tomorrow, at 11:00. I expect that it will be an interesting discussion, but we’ll have to wait and see
Comment by Marish — July 10, 2007 @ 9:25 am
Forgot to mention, that the discussion will prolly focus on construction process in the center, specifically closing of Getar + traffic issues.
Comment by Marish — July 10, 2007 @ 9:29 am