20th of August in our country we celebrate the Builder’s Day. Every new construction, be it a small house or a building of industrial or social significance, symbolizes the beginning of a new life, a revival. And the basis of this new life will be firm and reliable, if every builder has a high sense of responsibility for future generations. “It is time to throw a fresh glance on the tasks that we face,” – says the Chairman of the State Committee for Urban Development of RA Avetik Eloyan. – “The time for building churches and palaces is over, it is time for planting gardens and parks, building universities. A green and comfortable city is a guarantee for healthy generation. The new universities will give us advantage in the whole competitive world. We are given the right to build new houses, therefore we have to build properly and safely. I suggest another idea: the right, responsibility and privilege to build solid and reliable buildings. I would prefer, that everyone in their sphere, not only the builders, realize their privileges. It is the only way to build a country.” Vice Prime-Minister RA Tigran Avinyan, who arrived to “Tamanyan” hall (Architectural museum after A. Tamanyan) to congratulate builders on their professional holiday, called their role in the life of the country revolutionary, “ Among other things, construction is a culture. It is the culture of urban life, responsibility before public property, and the level of culture, when public interests are not replaced with personal ones. In this new times your role is truly revolutionary! Of course, the requirements of the market and the customer may be different, which is against the public interests, but then it is here that the State Committee for Urban Development must act as a representative of society and perform its mission of cultural and intellectual revolution.” Gagik Galstyan, the Chairman of Builders’ Union, rector of the National University of Architecture and Construction, highlighted the problems of the construction sector: state norms of urban planning, development of market pricing methodology, licensing procedures, strengthening of control, regulation of construction competitions, training of qualified personnel.

By the decision of the Government of RA, the "Engineering City" program was initiated to give a new impetus to the development of engineering and high technology in our country, as well as to unite Armenian engineering minds and make them more productive and meaningful. Armenia thus will re-establish its name “Caucasus Silicone Valley”, exporting to the global markets its engineering and high technology products and services. The future Engineering City will occupy a 3.0-hectare area on Bagrevand Street, Yerevan. Approximately 40 engineering companies will be settled here, bringing together the main potential of the Armenian engineering mind in one place. In their own City the engineers will be able to work more efficiently. Some joint laboratories, small-scale sampling workrooms will be established here. Hakob Arshakyan, the First Deputy Minister of Transport, Communication and Information Technologies of Armenia, gives a great importance to creation of such a working environment, saying, “For testing a product, its temperature and producing a ready product from its prototype, there is a need for appropriate laboratory and production equipment that very few companies can afford (if necessary, most of them rent the equipment or work with customer organization’s equipment). Availability of such centralized laboratories in Eengineering City will significantly facilitate the work of the companies. These laboratories will be open for everyone!” In general, a high-tech environment will be created, where apart from the joint laboratories, a separate building will be constructed for every company, a joint working area will be set up with equipment for acceleration and incubation activities, as well as administrative space for management and technical staff, meeting rooms, a conference hall and training rooms. The architectural project for Engineering City is not ready yet. In 2016 an architectural concept tender was organized, where no winning project was selected. The land, on which the city for Armenian engineers will be built is property of Yerevan, and it will be handed to the relevant body only after the decision of the Council of Elders of Yerevan, which has not yet happened. In front of 3.0 ha area allocated for Engineering City there are: an engineering center, where already more than a dozen engineering companies work (address: 21/1 Bagrevand street), engineering library, space and science museums, and youth educational techno park (in the process of construction). This space (about 5000m²) will join the Engineering City, and a centralized high-tech environment will be created, making Armenian engineering mind more presentable. Hakob Arshakyan mentions, that after launching the Engineering City the foreign customers will see our engineering potential in the form of 40 companies gathered in one place. They will clearly see an appropriate environment for solving their problems. Besides, the City will bring together different companies, the latters will exchange their skills and knowledge, will start network collaboration, organize expos, trainings and seminars. Here the engineering companies will develop and implement innovative ideas with the help of modern infrastructures and will offer hard technical solutions to local and international markets. “The foreign organizations, that work with Armenian companies, recognize Armenia as an information technology local center and want to work with Armenian companies again, and this is mostly with foreign countries, and therefore, often in secret strategically important projects.” The First Deputy Minister also draws attention to the fact that 6% of Armenia's gross domestic product is provided by high technology companies, and this 6 % is generated by only 1.4% of the industry staff, which means, that these workers form a result creator group. Due to this result, the financial turnover of the sector has increased five times during the last 7 years. But it is necessary to increase the rates, mentions Hakob Arshakyan. The creation of Engineering City will boost the competitiveness and productivity of Armenia's economy. About $17 mln investment is envisaged by the Government through the World Bank and private sector for Engineering City project implementation.

This year Goris was declared the CIS cultural capital. The corresponding events started on the 7th of July. Naturally the international community's attention is focused on our historical city. According to RA Minister of Culture Lilit Makunts, "Goris was chosen because of its interesting architecture and coloring. More than 150 artists and officials from eight countries of CIS visited Goris these days.” The decision to make Goris a cultural capital was not surprising, for Goris is one of the rare cities, which has preserved its ancient architecture, through which the world will know its centuries-old history and culture, which is very important nowadays. The reconstruction project for the monument “Old Bells” (or The Bells) announcing the entrance of the city, is very symbolic within the frames of the program. This project became a reality thanks to the ideological and material support of community leader Arush Arushanyan, businessmen, philanthropists, as well as the Goris citizens. The monument Old Bells was reborn as a symbol of national traditions and values. The program is interesting in architectural aspect, and for the first time a monument of public importance was rebuilt on the site of a new building. It is important to remind, that this beautiful building of 1985 has become the visiting card of Goris by its architectural solution, helping to explore the city with its entire splendor. The monument symbolizes the mentality of local people. It is inseparable part of Goris. The idea of restoration of the monument, according to reconstructing architect Sevada Zakaryan, occurred in December 2017. Reconstruction works started in winter, but when Goris was announced as a cultural capital of the CIS countries, everything possible was done to finish the work in due time. It is noteworthy, that the construction works were carried out irrespective of weather conditions, which resulted in completion of the monument in three months! The reconstructed monument almost preserved its previous appearance. Its length is 35m, while the height of the biggest “mountain” is 16m. The monument has been reconstructed with porous stones of volcanic origin from Ishkhanasar Mountain, which the local people call “dead stone”. The structure's color solutions are in harmony with pink pyramidal rocks surrounding the monument. Reconstruction of the adjacent territories is underway now. Recently the construction process is in its second phase: a watchtower is built, from which a wonderful view to the city is opened. As the architect Sevada Zakaryan says, “There is an observation point on the mountain in front of the building, which is still to be built and possibly will be finished by the end of this autumn. This is not only a symbol built on Artsakh-Syunik highway, but also a recreation area.” The mountains surrounding the construction are covered with forests. Another 5-10 ha area will be tree-planted jointly with the Ministry of Agriculture. The project implementation has created a new field for investment programs. As the specialists say, there are already several investment proposals, and in case of their implementation the area will become one of the most attractive and liveliest places for tourism. Hopefully the tourism will develop along with national and cultural values. The monument Old Bells was destroyed in 1996, and in its place a new memorial was built, “Goris Bells”, which was not that valuable and unique from architectural point of view. That raised a wave of dissatisfaction among population of the region. Since then the restoration of Old Bells has always been a subject for discussion. Anyway, the reconstruction of Goris Bells is also vital from architectural, cultural and historical point of view, therefore, it would be right if the monument Goris Bells would also be restored.

Due to North South highway construction Armenia will have a highway meeting international road construction standards. With the help of Meghri-Yerevan-Bavra highway, being now reconstructed, fast passenger and freight transportation will be provided from the south of our country to the Georgian border, and further to international trade routes. It is natural that such a strategically significant project would imply an appropriate high-quality approach and strict requirements. RA Minister of Transport, communication and information technologies Ashot Hakobyan emphasized during the meeting with the media: “Builders, engineers, technical controllers and designers, everyone will be equally responsible for the quality of the road construction. RA Prime Minister announced, “No more poor-quality roads in Armenia!”. We will do everything consistently to have a road that meets the required quality. We have one goal – to open a new page in the North-South Transport Corridor Investment Program.” Construction works of the first tranche have been completed in 2016, where some defects have been registered. These defects should be abolished by the contractor within the specified deadlines, assured the minister. The contractor was fined almost $ 6 million. The problem is, that American AASHTO road construction standards (chosen by the financing Asian Development Bank), according to which the North-South should be built, do not meet the climatic conditions of our country. Bronislaw Dimitrievich, the head of the SAFEGE company's work group for road quality control, notes that the problem is not the quality of cement, but that technical specifications have not been adapted to the geographical and climatic conditions of Armenia. Laboratory works are now underway to investigate and resolve all emerging technical issues. Concrete coating roads are predicted to serve for 20-25 years, notes the leading engineer-coordinator of the North-South Road Corridor Investment Program Aram Gugarats. When will the construction of the North-South Road Corridor be completed? It is impossible to give specific dates, because the financing sources are still unknown for the Tranche 5 and the overwhelming segment of Tranche 4. That is the reason, that RA Minister of Transport, communication and information technologies Ashot Hakobyan considers impossible to announce specific deadlines for road construction completion: “There is no financing for 4 sectors of the road: Artashat-Sisian 175km, that goes through mountain pass and complex relief, therefore, construction of tunnels and bridges is needed, bypass section of Gyumri, 23km, Gyumri-Bavra, 38km and Sisian-Kajaran, 60km. Only when the financing of these sections of the highway is solved and all the design and estimate documentation is prepared, it will be possible to speak about the deadlines. "

Landscaping of the cities not only raises the aesthetic indicator, but also helps to solve a number of essential tasks. Due to landscaping the microclimate and the health conditions of the city are improved, particularly, the temperature falls, decreases the speed of the wind, significantly changes the humidity of the air, as the green plantations detain dust and have the ability to absorb toxic gases, which creates more comfortable living environment. Landscaping of urban areas is made taking into account their geographical location, climatic conditions and the structure of urban planning. This approach to city planning has been used since time immemorial. Even in the great pages of our history, there are many examples where authorities planted forests, built nature reserves, city gardens, many of which exist till now. Our capital was designed using the same approach. Taking into consideration that climate in Yerevan is semi-arid, great importance was given to the landscaping of the city during the development of the master plan. Having a capital drowned in greenery decades ago, today we are faced with the fact that society is fighting for even the smallest green space. Since the independence of Armenia, the number of recreational zones in Yerevan has been decreasing every year. Perhaps in 90-s this action was inevitable and justified, but this practice was not cancelled, moreover, it improved, turning into business. That is why the city loses its "green lungs". The wave of business did not care even for historical and cultural complex Dalma gardens, which reached to us from the time of the ancient Van kingdom. But as they say, the error is good for its correction. And such a correction was the project of reconstruction of the park behind the statue to Myasnikyan. It should be noted, that on December 26, 2017, the Vardanyan Family Foundation presented a plan for the reconstruction of the park dedicated to the 2800th anniversary of Yerevan which was unanimously adopted at the meeting of the Council of Elders. In the course of construction works the trees were cut, which caused bewilderment of the townsfolk. As a result, the Yerevan Municipality provided explanations on the matter, “We would like to remind, that in February this year we already reported that in the framework of the construction works in the park located between Beirut and Italy streets of the city, only dry and old trees were cut down. We also reported that in the course of the works it is planned to plant fourfold more new trees in the park.” As an answer to perplexity of the townsfolk the "Vardanyan Family" charitable foundation replied that 48 healthy trees were planted along the perimeter of the park. And how will look the new park of our capital? According to the project the number of the trees will increase fourfold, and the green space will double. In the comfortable park there will be more than 60 types of exotic trees from other countries fully meeting our climatic conditions. The park will be fully paved with seven-colored granite slabs creating in the plan ornaments of Armenian carpet art. The park will be decorated with modern benches and bronze statues on the themes of ancient Urartu. Besides that, the park zone will be equipped with a modern lighting system. But one of the most graceful decisions was the construction of a large fountain complex, in the central part of which it is planned to install symbols of 12 administrative districts of Yerevan made from onyx. It is planned also to build a fountain square of granite slabs, on which the map of the capital will be located. The construction of the fountain complex is carried out by the Russian company VODALUX. In addition to the park improvement works, the "Vardanyan Family" charitable foundation also expressed his willingness in the future to carry out the engineering and technical maintenance of the fountains in the park at its own expense, in case of equipment failure - repair and replacement, as well as replacement of the worn tiles and gardening. The next important, long-awaited and very rare decision is that the park is not rented by the foundation but continues to belong to the community. The fund put only one condition: in the park zone within 99 years any kind of entrepreneurial activity should be banned and it should serve only as a rest zone for Yerevan residents. Thus the Fund tried to prevent the "appetite" of entrepreneurs to turn the park into any business. The project is a gift from the charitable foundation «Vardanyan family» for the 2800th anniversary of Yerevan. Studying the project and following the explanations and promises of the fund, the residents of Yerevan look forward to the opening of the new park. We hope, that someday the words of Linch about our capital will become true again. «The landscape from the higher level in the north, from where you drive to Erivan, produces an impression that is never forgotten. The entire Ararat massif is seen from top to bottom, but poplars are so high, and so magnificent are the numerous varieties of fruit trees, that the tops of mosques and the churches and the entire city scattered to your feet is drowned in their green leaves.”