State agencies continue to violate the RA Government's October 21 decree regarding the extension of land lease contracts for 256 hectares of Dalma orchards. Dalma orchards with a history of three thousand years have a great cultural and environmental value. The Government's decree extended the lease contracts expiring on March 31, 2004 for ten years. Yerevan mayor Yervand Zakharyan announced that the process of registration of property has already started. Contracts are expected to be signed for rent of land lots on the territory of 256 hectares. The lots regarding which no contracts are signed will be transferred to the jurisdiction of Yerevan municipality which will either plant trees on those territories or allocate them for construction purposes. It is planned that those currently renting the reallocated land lots will be compensated. Some media cheerfully approved these measures stating that the current municipal authorities continue the urban development policy line adopted by their predecessors. What is that policy line?
    Mayor Vano Siradeghyan's decree of December 26, 1996 allocated 2 hectares of Dalma orchards to the Islamic Republic of Iran for construction of an embassy building. However, due to the efforts undertaken by the Green Union of Armenia the decree was not implemented. Another project for reallocation of Dalma orchards put forward by Yerevan mayor Bazeyan and chief architect Sargsyan proposed splitting the orchards into functional zones allocated for construction of public, diplomatic and other buildings. This project too was rejected due to the efforts of several state agencies and especially the Green Union of Armenia.
    The Dalma saga took on a new turn when Yerevan mayor's August 30, 2000 decree cancelled the orchards' status of a complex representing a cultural value. Later in 2002 Yerevan municipality turned to the Armenian government requesting to allocate 63 hectares of Dalma lands. Fortunately, this project was rejected as well. However, based on the municipality's request, the government issued decree N533 of March 27, 2003 leasing 3 hectares of Dalma lands to Renco ArmEstate LTD and 5 hectares to Frank Muller Armenia CJSC. The latter was supposed to build a factory for production of spare parts for watches.
    The proposal for turning a fruit orchard into a factory that would pollute the environment with poisonous waste was approved by Yerevan municipality on June 23, 2003 and land lots were leased to the above-mentioned companies. In this way the rights of the renters of lots in question were violated because article 619 of the RA civil code stipulates that land leasing contracts cannot be terminated before the date of expiration of the contract unless the parties give mutual consent for termination or one of the parties violates the contract provisions. Meanwhile, none of these three exceptions apply to this case.
    In the same way, without taking into consideration the contractual rights of other renters additional land lots were allocated to Armenian Airlines CJSC for a period of 50 years. The prosperous orchards cultivated by renters in accordance with the existing legislation were doomed to destruction and use for construction purposes.
    On March 27, 2003 the RA government adopted a special decree on "Amendment of the size and functional purpose of Dalma orchards subject to preservation". According to this decree, only 256 out of 533 hectares of Dalma orchards were defined as lands subject to preservation. The prime minister signed the decree with a delay of one year, and two days later it was approved by the president.
    A concept paper for the creation of Dalma Orchards historical-cultural complex was developed. The concept paper proposes to create a national park on Dalma lands, regulate the ecological balance of the site, create conditions favorable for tourism and undertake several other important measures that aim at improving the sanitary situation in Yerevan since these measures will increase the park area of the city for 256 hectares. The creation of ethno-park will contribute to the preservation of Armenian traditions. Additionally, the implementation of the project will create 150-200 permanent jobs. A wonderful project that would inspire anyone. The Dalma orchards is a unique vineyard and wine production site. Its cultivation benefits 1800 people that are currently renting land lots. Cultivation of these lands is the main source of income for many families.
    The government's October 21 decree on extension of land lease contracts for a period of ten years might silence the renters and public agencies dealing with Dalma lands for a while. But can they be assured that the ex-mayor's and chief architect's urban development policies will not be resumed by the current government?

Ani Gasparyan, Yerevan State University
Translated by Gayane Tonoyan