HOW TO MAKE ANDRANIK MANUKYAN FEEL GOOD

Armenian Railroad celebrating one of its jubilees one or two years ago was considered a fast developing company. The official statistics and the ministry of communication and transport used every occasion to highlight the volume of cargo transportation by railroad growing daily. It was even stated that the Armenian railroad developed in blockade. And the director of Armenian Railroad Company Ararat Khrimyan announced that the company can increase the salary of its workers every year.
I do not know what happened but the sad faces and tragic voice of Ararat Khrimyan and the minister of transport Andranik Manukyan in the evening of October 12 did not let me and I am sure that many others go to sleep at night, making think what could have happened to the Armenian railroad. Khrimyan announced that the only way to save “the Armenian railroad” is concession. This has already been decided. They will concess. It is not clear to whom, but it is clear that there will be an international tender. We have already such experience. Distribution Networks. Privatization was said to be the only way to save it. Like in the case of the railroad, the World Bank demanded, and the government agreed but not absolutely. The networks were put out to tender, but were sold disregarding the conditions of the tender which were indended to prevent monopoly, and a company which had nothing to do with energy became the owner of the networks. And imagine that the World Bank did not say anything against it. Even after this company had sold the networks to the Russians though the World Bank was against, the bank did not lodge significant complaints except for the diplomatic formula of Roger Robinson, the chief executive of the World Bank in Armenia.
Ostensibly, the same destiny awaits the Armenian railroad. At least, the beginning of the process coincides. The end will be clear in 2008, however, the end is already outlining. The minister of communication and transport of Armenia does not hide that he would like the Russians were the concessionaire of Armenian Railroad. This wish is quite natural, considering that the ruling elite in Armenia has never wished anything else and it is a surprise that so far they have not talked about it. It is clear why. The railroad worked, the World Bank attended to the fate of these spheres, the salary of the workers was raised by 5 percent, on the day of the railroad workers some kebab and salads was laid on the table in the large hall of the administration of Railroad and they savored “one hundred years of blockade” by the ancient Armenian tradition of “little but eternal”. And all of a sudden they decided to save the railroad and declared this in such a tragic voice as to make the public go to the streets at night and demand concessing the railroad as soon as possible as long as the trains and rails are of iron and have not become paper.
However, one thing is what the government of Armenia and the World Bank want, and another thing is what they eventually do. Apparently, they will be having difficulty selling the railroad to the Russians. The point is that the director of Russian Railroad, who was visiting Yerevan on those tragic days for the Armenian railroad, did not appear enthusiastic about saving our railroad, even when Andranik Manukyan and Ararat Khrimyan forgot about protocols and attributes of the state and announced barefacedly that they would like the Russians to manage the railroad. As if it was Andranik Manukyan’s Metropol Hotel or car service, and not a strategic sphere of the country.
But this spark of vassalism did not dazzle the Russians’ eyes and especially mind. Russian Railroad gets an annual 25 billion dollar profit. It is impressive. And It is not a surprise that it impressed Andranik Manukyan and perhaps also the entire ruling elite who have unanimously decided on the concession, although their solidarity is highly doubtful, but this is not what we are concerned about now. And now it has occurred to our government that the Russians would agree to spend part of their 25 billion on the Armenian railroad and pay 10 million dollars in the first year of 40 years of concession, invest 170 million dollars within ten years and pay 2 percent of profit from cargo transportation. It is a little unclear why the Russians should do this. The Armenian railroad can have a strategic and political importance only if the blockade of Armenia is lifted. But when finally the blockade of Armenia is lifted, nobody may need Armenian Railroad any more because by that time new railroads will be built in the region. After all, the world is not going to wait until Vardan Oskanyan proves his theory of developing 100 years without roads.
In other words, the Russians and not only the Russians but any other company, does not have a rational motivation to take up the management of the Armenian railroad if its final point is Batumi and only in summer. Besides, the Armenian government has declared the IT as a priority of the economy, which means that if the IT develops at such rates, in some years our cargo will be transported via chips. Hence, the Russians had better consider buying the computer network in Armenia. And the government had better seek another lure to talk the Russians into taking our railroad or persuade the Georgians to give their railroad to the Russians too. In that case, Armenian Railroad will be saved, and Andranik Manukyan will finally feel good.
HAKOB BADALYAN

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