The construction of Piazza Grande complex, located on Vazgen Manukyan street, was completed. The complex is adjacent to the main square of Yerevan- Republic Square and that is probably gave rise to building name (Piazza Grande means Large Square in Italian). Today, on September 20 Mayor of Yerevan Gagik Beglaryan and CEO "Renco" holding (www.renco.it) Giovanni Rubini held ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate an official opening of the complex. Piazza Grande consists of 2 level parking garage, 3-storey business center with a glass roofed patio with (atrium) and the top 7 floors designed for residential area. The construction lasted 2.5 years and cost $50 million. The building was constructed on-site of demolished historic-cultural monument of 1842, what was purchased by "Renco" from Ministry of Defense in 2007. We would like to highlight the high quality of work performed during the construction of "Piazza Grande", which has undertaken "RencoArmestate" LLC construction company One should admire the high culture of the construction work done by this company during the entire construction process that is naturally due to increase in the cost of the final product. After 2009 "RencoArmestate" LLC led in the ranking of the largest construction companies of Armenia.

Recently Chairman of the administration of the President of Georgia reported about construction of high class residential complexes by American magnate Donald Trump. The protocol of intent between the Trump Organization and the Georgian building company Silk Road Group has been recently signed during the visit of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili in New York, where he attend the UN General Assembly Session. According to Executive Vice President of Trump Organization, Michael Cohen, they intend to build complex with unique architecture, interior design and comfort. Construction site for the future complex in Tbilisi is likely was selected during the Cohen's July visit to Georgia. Preliminary intentions of Trump Organization consists construction of housing both in Tbilisi and Batumi. It is interesting to note, that house prices in Georgia today, the lowest in the region and in terms of investment attractiveness, this project raises some doubts. However, the Government of Georgia makes every effort to create a more attractive environment for investments in the country and it is likely to succeed today.

The head of Georgian State Electorsystem company (GSE) Sulkhan Zumburidze and Vice President of Azerenerji Marlen Asgarov signed a memorandum on further development of cooperation between Azerbaijani and Georgian systems to create an "energy bridge" with Turkey, Turan reported. According to GSE, the point is Azerbaijan's joining the construction of Akhaltsikhe-Borchkha electric transmission line that is to connect energy systems of Georgia and Turkey.

To the delight of all owners of coastal recreation areas, restaurants and cafes, Arpa-Sevan tunnel will be closed for reconstruction works, and the water of lake Sevan will not be able to rise; it will even decrease by 20 cm by this winter! The tender for work implementation won the same named company Arpa- Sevan, which offered the lowest price- 11.8 billion AMD (about $32 million).Financing of the reconstruction works will be implemented by the Government of Armenia with support of Development found of Abu-Dhabi, OAE. The construction of 48.2 km Arpa-Sevan tunnel was started in 1961 and completed in 1981. The main contractor was "Arpasevanshin" company, which was the predecessor of Arpa-Sevan company. After commissioning of Arpa-Sevan tunnel, as an extension of Sevan lake rescue project Vorotan tunnel was built ( 21.6 km) to transfer water from Vorotan river to Arpa river. The renovation comes in handy not only for off-shore entrepreneurs, but for Government as well, because it will gain time to correct past mistakes. Water level rising to 1901m mark above the sea (it is provided to raise it to 1903, 5m+ 1,5m for waves by 2032), caused unpredicted serious problems with coastal flooding. It is unclear how forests, pipelines, buildings and the roads were under the water and why water inflow from Arpa-Sevan tunnel and releases from the lake were not regulated to prevent that? The State suffered enormous damage, as cleaning already flooded areas will cost much more. In early 80's integrated activities were developed for gradually coastal cleaning up (to the extent of flooding) to 1905 m from buildings, trees and other vegetation, as well as total demolition of fertile topsoil. There was provision for creating new forests on new, higher marks, and constructing new roads and buildings. Note that lake Sevan before the drawdown of its water resources had high water quality and a unique fish fauna, consisting only of valuable fish species. As it was correctly forecasted even 40-50 years ago, at current low water level Sevan will transform from "trout" lake into the "carp" and later into the swamp! To save the lake it should risen at least to 1903.5 m, and has to be accompanied with the full implementation of all envisaged activities for bottom clearance, as increasing the level without cleaning will lead to the opposite-swamping result.

Of course, you are afraid; otherwise, you are poorly informed about the problem. Do you know that in the report of Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery organization (2009) Armenia was ranked to be the first among all countries on vulnerability to earthquakes? The consequences from a possible earthquake may be particularly dire in Yerevan, where, by some expert estimates, in case of earthquake magnitude as in Haiti (2010) or in Spitak (1988), about 80% of all buildings will collapse. A possible strong earthquake in Yerevan will have destructive consequences for our State, forcing many people to leave Armenia and making almost impossible the future restoration of the country and the Capital. We have seen the "rebuilding" after earthquake in Spitak that is already lasting for 21years, and follow the reconstruction process after earthquake in Haiti. The conclusion is the one- despite the huge funds allocated, it is almost impossible to organize recovery work in the chaos resulting from the earthquake. Even in the Rosy Scenario of the reconstruction, anyway, we can not refund hundreds of thousands of lives lost. What are we waiting for? Especially today, we need to restructure almost all of our hospitals and schools, governmental and residential buildings. They were all built without observing new earthquake resistance standards. In case the government has no enough financial resources for large-scale nation-wide restructuring program, it is essential to start with at least one earthquake-proof hospital!!! Natural disasters are raging in the world much more frequently, making it harder and harder to confront them, while the assistance of states is not unlimited. All interested persons are welcome to leave comments and share thoughts on this issue, and be conscious of the problem and do everything possible to resolve it.