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A bill on nationalizing the Electric Networks of Armenia CJSC is already in parliament, PM Nikol Pashinyan has said.
He made the comments at a press briefing after his statements calling for public ownership of the electric utility run by Tashir Group, which is owned by Russia-based Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan.
Karapetyan is currently facing criminal proceedings.
“Our experts are discussing it, there’s already bill on nationalizing the ENA and making amendments,” Pashinyan said.
Pashinyan revealed that a month ago the government had called on the ENA to compensate the damages to citizens made through power outages.
“I was surprised and angered to find out during my regional visits that Armenia has nearly faced an energy crisis because of the ENA’s work. My analysis gives the grounds to believe that this has been done to generate domestic discontent in Armenia. I gave an instruction, either to initiate a clear mechanism for compensating the people’s damages, or nationalize the ENA. The deadline of my instruction is June 21. And I think they’ve become active because of my decision, because the Cabinet members had begun working, had told the ENA to clearly calculate the damages inflicted upon the people, the state and private companies, because wherever you go, people are saying that the power outages have damaged their washing machine, fridge, TV set or other appliances and asking who’s going to answer for that. When I visited Lori province, wherever I went there was no power, power outages were everywhere, be it a kindergarten, a school or a private office. This situation cannot be tolerated. The church is just a smokescreen for the soon-to-be former owners of the ENA,” Pashinyan said.