The Armenian government is proposing to create a new enlarged Vanadzor community in Lori Province by merging the Vanadzor and Pambak communities. The new unit would include 22 settlements. At the same time, in Ararat Province, the merger of the Ararat and Vedi communities would form a new enlarged Ararat community with 32 settlements, according to the National Assembly’s press service.
Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures Arnak Avetisyan said the move represents another stage of the government’s administrative-territorial reforms. The initiative предусматривает amendments and additions to the laws “On the Administrative-Territorial Division of the Republic of Armenia” and “On Local Self-Government.”
Avetisyan said that under 99 previous consolidation programs, Armenia moved from 915 communities to 64 merged communities, 57 of which are multi-settlement communities. If the new proposal is adopted, the total number of communities will fall to 62.
He said earlier consolidation programs had been implemented under cluster or district models. Studies have shown, he added, that communities merged under the district model manage local self-government more effectively and have stronger infrastructure, financial capacity and professional resources. In that context, the government plans to continue its consolidation and administrative-territorial reform policy using the district model.
In a related report, Vahe Ghalumyan, deputy chair of the standing committee on territorial administration and environmental protection, said the committee had issued a positive opinion on the draft. In his view, community consolidation has an overall positive impact on future local development.
The initiative was discussed and passed in the first reading at the National Assembly session on September 14.
