ArmInfo.Residents of the village of Vardenut in the Aragatsotn region of Armenia, protesting against the recognition of the village's territory of almost 110 hectares as a zone of exclusive public interest, again closed the Yerevan-Aparan highway.
Back in March of this year, the villagers closed the road, stating that due to the government's decision to recognize part of the territory of the villages of Vardenut and Aragats as a zone of predominant public interest, they are losing their land plots. At that time, the residents of Vardenut reported that they had written letters to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Economy.
"Our Prime Minister says that the road needs to be closed to solve the problem. We are guided by what the Prime Minister said," said one of the residents of the village of Bayandur.
According to him, since January of this year, all of them, from the Minister to the Prime Minister, has been leading us by the nose. "The Prime Minister says: I don't know, is that even possible," he said.
Talks about the RID company started already in 2021, when the Armenian government did not approve the projectfor the construction of a ski resort with an investment of $300 million by the Aragate Investments company (the owner of the company is a major businessman Nikolai Sarkisov), which submitted an application for the construction of a ski resort on the slopes of Aragats, and approved another investment program in the same area for $200 million to establish 300 farms and an ecotourism center covering over 4,000 hectares of land. (The latter was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers on March 2, 2023). Meanwhile, since the beginning of 2020, Aragate Investments together with the well-known MDP consulting and engineering and Societe des 3 Vallees French companies, began work on the construction of a large ski resort on the slopes of Aragats on an area of about 5,000 hectares. Societe des 3 Vallees is the management company of the famous French resort of Courchevel. On the same territory, RID LLC planned to build agricultural production, a reservoir, and a ski resort. As noted, the shareholder of the company is Rutsog- Invest, which in turn (again, according to the media at that time) was owned by Moscow businessman Ruben Grigoryan. The territories of the two companies' programs coincided. The interdepartmental commission established to approve one of the programs in this place approved the project of RID LLC. The company's investment program was also approved by the Council of Elders of Aparan. According to the presented project, RID LLC will build a skiing infrastructure that has no analogues in Armenia, including about 30 km of ski slopes, five funicular lines, and hotels. The entire complex is expected to cover the territories of several villages in the Aragatsotn region: Vardenut, Aragats, Arai and Shenavan. According to the Ministry of Economy, the implementation of this project will be of great importance in the context of Armenia's further economic development. Based on this, the Cabinet of Ministers decided to recognize the prevailing public interest in relation to the land of 113 hectares, while simultaneously giving permission for the long-term lease of 3,640 hectares of land.
