Minister of Culture of Armenia Hasmik Poghosyan commented on the situation related to the old building of Zvartnots airport.
In an interview with ArmInfo the Minister paid attention to the fact that old (round) building of the airport is not included in the list of State Protected Monuments.
"In recent 5 years no process has been initiated on including any monuments or buildings in this list. Interdepartmental committee of experts works on this issue and will give its final statement on nominating the building for including in the list, and present it to the Ministry of Culture. However the committee has not presented any conclusion to the Ministry related to the old building of Zvartnots yet", Poghosyan noted. At the same time the Minister positively assessed the discussions of experts on the issue. "It is very important to summarize the specialists' opinions. It is important for any development of the process", she noted.
Minister of Urban Development Narek Sargsyan in his turn noted in a talk with ArmInfo's correspondent, that discussion on the issue of round building will be held on the level of ministry. "I think that this issue will be discussed during two or three weeks", he said.
"Now the concessionaire has permission only to demolish circular overpass and the matter concerns only to the part, which is in ultimate limit state", Sargsyan noted. According to him the building itself is not in danger.
To recall, the terminal of Zvartnots Airport was built upon the project of architects A.Tarkhanyan, S.Khachikyan, L.Cherkezyan, Zh.Shekhlyan, A.Tigranyan, A.Meschyan and designer S.Baghdasaryan. It was put into operation in 1980. In June 2002 Zvartnots Airport was transferred to concession of Armenia International Airports CSJC owned by Argentinean entrepreneur Eduardo Eurnekian.
In 2013 Armenia International Airports CSJC made a statement that the old terminal presents a very dangerous structure and does not fit with modern aeronautical standards. The project on demolishing the building raised harsh criticism among architects, who noted that the building has historic value.
The concessionaire presented a new project in 2015 according to which the old building of Zvartnots will be kept partially. According to the project, only the control tower will be maintained while the old terminal will be demolished.
The permission on demolition of the circular overpass was given to Armenia International Airports CJSC on December 24, 2015. Meanwhile, the Armenian architects' stand on the issue remains unchanged-the old building should be fully maintained. They particularly note that the old building of Zvartnots along with Armenia's other complexes of strategic importance (NPP, a number of HPPS, Arpa-Sevan underpass) were constructed in compliance with the rules of safety and can stand earthquake of magnitude 9.