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Operator Vows To Solve Waste-Disposal Crisis In Yerevan


Sanitek company director Nicholas El Tawil at a press conference in Yerevan, 14 September, 2018
Sanitek company director Nicholas El Tawil at a press conference in Yerevan, 14 September, 2018

After months of criticism over poor garbage collection in Yerevan the city’s private operator has vowed to solve the issue shortly.

“In the next couple of days citizens will see that the waste management will be regulated,” Nicholas El Tawil, the director of the Lebanese-run Sanitek company, said at a press conference on Friday.

Residents of the Armenian capital held several protests in front of the Sanitek office in recent weeks, demanding that the company, which entered Yerevan in 2014 and has worked as a monopolist in waste management since, do proper work to “clean up the mess” in the city.

Piles of garbage have been seen in virtually all districts of Yerevan as Sanitek garbage trucks did not show up for days to collect them.

Angered residents have complained about bad smell and poor sanitary conditions created in the city during the summer months because of the poor service offered by the private operator.

The problem of Sanitek’s poor waste disposal has repeatedly been raised by Armenian authorities lately. In recent weeks the Yerevan municipality imposed fines amounting to over $50,000 on the company and warned it about stricter sanctions ahead unless the situation improved.

In explaining the deterioration of its work Sanitek referred to the shortage of garbage trucks that it said frequently broke down because of bad roads leading to the landfill site. The company also claimed excessive damage to its trash cans caused by residents that increases overall costs for garbage collection.

Speaking at a press conference today Sanitek’s manager admitted that his company did not duly fulfill its obligations during the last three months. “But we haven’t run away from our responsibilities,” he added.

Earlier, the company said it had purchased some new garbage trucks that were on their way to Armenia.

Ahead of September 23 elections to Yerevan’s Council of Elders many of the political parties and blocs participating in the campaign promise to attract more waste management operators for the city.

In this view El Tawil said that any other investor or operator would still face the same problems. “We look forward to coordinate [our work] with the new municipality. We believe and hope that the new government will make a master plan for waste collection not only for Yerevan, but also for the entire country,” Sanitek’s representative said, denying that the company’s problems began after the resignation of former mayor Taron Markarian.

El Tawil said they will discuss with the city authorities the possibility of having an international company supervising Sanitek as a contractor. “Because waste management is a very complicated and delicate issue,” El Tawil concluded.

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