“Hetq”: How Bus Stops and an Underpass Became the Property of the Byureghavan Mayor’s Family
The two bus shelters and the underpass located on the Arzni section of the Yerevan–Sevan highway, which were built to ensure passengers’ comfort and safety, have ended up in the hands of a private company over the years. According to “Hetq”’s investigation, the property belongs to “Arzni-Express” LLC, one of whose shareholders is the wife of Hakob Balasanyan, the mayor of Byureghavan. Today, one of the bus stops houses a fast-food outlet, the other is not in use, and the underpass is closed.
The bus shelters were built in the 1970s in the style of Soviet modernism. In the early 1990s, the “Arzni-Express” company obtained permission to reconstruct them. However, in 2005, the Cadastre Committee refused to register ownership rights to the property, noting that the structures were on the balance sheet of the Ministry of Automobile Transport and that the company had only been granted permission for reconstruction. A year later, the company applied to the court, seeking to have the bus shelters and restrooms declared ownerless. The court granted the claim, and ownership rights to the property were registered in the company’s name.
The company acquired the plots of land in 2007 by a decision of the Arzni Community Council of Elders, without an auction. A price of 7 million 820 thousand drams was set for the two plots, with a total area of 2,660 square meters, amounting to 2,940 drams per square meter. According to “Hetq,” the company was founded by Hakob Balasanyan’s father, Suren Balasanyan, and 50% of its shares now belong to his wife, Annman Ghukasyan. Hakob Balasanyan has headed Byureghavan since 2008.
According to the publication, the cadastral file lacks the decision of the Community Council of Elders that the Cadastre Committee had cited as the basis for registering ownership rights. In fact, the plots of land were alienated by a decision dated April 25, 2007. The underpass was also closed after the property was privatized. On August 26, a 25-year-old man was hit by a vehicle and died while crossing the street in that area. Thus, former public infrastructure has been turned into a private business area, while citizens deprived of the opportunity to cross the highway safely are forced to cross it at ground level.