YEREVAN. – Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper has learned that the building of the Ministry of Transport and Communication of Armenia will be sold to Rostelecom telecommunication service company of Russia.

“According to the [respective Armenian] government decision, the building—with the plot of land attached to it—will be sold in a classic auction. It is estimated at 132 billion [Armenian] drams, or about 27 million [US] dollars.

“We have learned that the government has made the decision to sell the building, based on the offer received from Rostelecom itself.

“There are no other potential buyers, at least at this point, which means that Rostelecom will purchase the building at the starting price of the auction: 27 million dollars.

“The new [Armenian] government will try to sell as much state-owned real estate as possible, to slightly improve the poor condition of the state budget.

“But it will be very difficult to find buyers,” wrote Haykakan Zhamanak.