As a result of the pressure applied by the residents of the seven surrounding villages, the crane and the excavator, which were brought in order to build a hydroelectric power plant (HPP) nearby Karbi and Ohanavan villages of Armenia’s Aragatsorn Region, were removed from the construction site.

Before leaving the area, however, the villagers stated that if the construction equipment is brought back and the construction is resumed, they will block Yerevan-Aparan Highway yet again. 

The Armenian News-NEWS.am reporter asked Aragatsotn Regional Governor Sargis Sahakyan whether the construction of the HPP will be stopped and the construction equipment will no longer be brought back to the construction site. Sahakyan, however, did not give a straight answer, and repeated that the HPP’s construction is not perilous.   

But the residents reminded the regional governor that they all have bank loans, and they make their living on those gardens that will dry out should the HPP be built, depriving them of their only source of income.   

The residents of Ushi, Ohanavan, Artashavan, Karbi, Saghmosavan, Yerznka, and Yeghvard villages had blocked the Yerevan-Aparan Highway on Thursday morning, and demanded that the construction of the aforesaid hydroelectric power plant be stopped.