YEREVAN. – Hraparak daily of Armenia writes: [Yerevan Mayor] Hayk Marutyan was tasked with delivering results by the end of the year on the matter of Yerevan’s public transport (...). It was decided to announce a [respective] competition in late February. Has it been announced, we asked Davit Khazhakyan, a [opposition] member of the Yerevan Council of Elders.

"Yes. They had announced that the government and the donor organization are ready to make that deal, but to my knowledge, the government has backed down from that decision."

Why? "It has refused to issue a recommendation ... this is obviously a big blow to the mayor; firstly, he did not keep his promise; secondly, if the new transport does not replace the GAZelles left out of the traffic, the public transport crisis [in Yerevan] will deepen and become a much bigger problem than the garbage disposal [issue was]."

But we believe the mayor will go on his favorite road: he will appeal to big businessmen.