Saturday, 6 October 2012
Those To Blame For Masis School Building Abuses To Be Prosecuted
On the sidelines of his Shirak marz visit, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan visited the Great Mantash community secondary school, where widespread deficiencies were committed during the school building renovation work. Head of Ministry of Finance Financial Control Inspectorate Sona Gharibyan reported that the reconstruction contract was signed as early as in July, 2009. The contractor was Parvana Installation Ltd., which in 2012 was renamed into NM Ohanyan LLC.
The total contract value amounted to AMD479.4 million, with a completion deadline set for November, 2012. “Reconstruction stopped in 2012, with AMD273.7mn worth of performance reported and AMD286 million paid as of June, 2012. Offences have been identified to a total amount of AMD207 million,” Sona Gharibyan stated.
She said the Ministry of Emergency Situations has assessed the school building’ seismic conditions as unsatisfactory of the third degree, and therefore was subject to amplification, detailed analysis, including geological. By the way, Sona Gharibyan informed that the no relevant measures had been envisaged in the building’s reconstruction design papers.
“Interior decorations are complete in the school building’s four facilities to a total cost of AMD 165 million. If we take into account that the identified deficiencies are widespread and consolidation measures still have to be implemented, the building costs appear to be meaningless and non-targeted,” the Head of Financial Ministry’s Control Department said.
Sona Gharibyan reported that similar irregularities have been detected in Masis school N5 by the Prime Minister’s Control Service.
AMD212.1mn had been disbursed for school repairs. The overall performance fell short of some 80 million, including deficiencies and unproductive expenses.
The head of government was also told that no failures or problems whatsoever had been reported back on the part of the designers and the technical and copyright oversight entities.
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The Prime Minister ordered to immediately submit all the records and findings to the Office of Prosecutor General. “Those responsible for technical and copyright control and all the other offenders should be strict liability. Sizeable damage has been caused to the State, especially during the construction of a sacred institution like school,” the Premier pointed out.
Tigran Sargsyan suggested putting on record the above two cases so that all construction companies would be aware that they may undergo strict sanctions for similar approaches. In conclusion, the head of government ordered to report back progress periodically.
