2008-02-26
Shushi Revival Fund is set to undertake a fundamental makeover of the city
by Betty Panossian-Ter Sarkissian
YEREVAN – Throughout the night of January 18–19 a telebridge was broadcast live on Armenia’s National TV channel uniting Shushi with Bethlehem, Yerevan, Moscow, and the Armenian diaspora.
Organized by the Shushi Revival Fund, the Shushi-Bethlehem telebridge was the first of its kind in Armenia. It weaved together information on the historical and cultural significance of Shushi; articulated visions of its potential success; discussed projects developed by the Shushi Revival Fund, as well as calls to donate to the Fund.
In the days following the telebridge, the Fund announced in a press release that approximately $5.7 million worth of donations and investments had been made to the projects developed by the Fund.
Shushi Revival is a non-profit public fund that was established in the spring of 2006 through the personal initiative of Yervand Zakharian, the mayor of Yerevan. The Fund brought together a number of intellectuals from Armenia, Karabakh, and the diaspora, including Zori Balayan, Levon Ananyan, Sos Sargsyan, Haroutioun Armenian, Hilda Choboyan, Haroutioun Khachatryan as members of its board of trustees, headed by the mayor of Yerevan himself.
The Shushi Revival Fund states that through the donations from its benefactors, it aspires to return Shushi to its ancient status as a cultural, social, and spiritual center. The mission of the Fund puts at its axis the renovation and preservation of historic buildings and reconstruction of the city, including the ancient fortress.
“We want to accentuate the historic importance of the city; place Shushi back on the crossroads of civilizations, and make it a tourist destination,” said Marina Grigoryan, the press secretary of the Fund to the Armenian Reporter.
Shushi now has its own new city plan developed by Armenian-American architect Seta Yaghoubian, and where new specific districts have been added, “preserving the traditional urban characteristics of the ancient city.”
Another project is being realized at a cost of 55 million Dram (around $180,000.) The project will help to provide tourists with the opportunity to have a closer look at traditional Armenian arts and crafts, through crafts centers open for the public.
The fund has two more primary tasks to accomplish in 2008.
Mkrtich Karapetyan, the program manager of the Fund said that the improvement and renewal of the water and sewage system in Shushi is a primary objective, adding that the water supply and sewage system in Shushi is very old and does not function properly.
The installment of the new water system in Shushi is planned to begin in the coming months. According to cost estimations carried a few months ago, the renewal of the water system of the city will cost around $2 million. Part of the donations will serve that end.
Another long-awaited project is the establishment of a printing house in February. “The printing house will create stable jobs for ten employees,” said Mr. Karapetyan.
Mr. Karapetyan hopes that the printing house will receive orders from Karabakh, as well as from Armenia, “because we are certain that the printing house will be the best equipped in Karabakh and will have enough potential to compete with those in Armenia.”
The next project of the Fund is the restoration of the famous historic Green Pharmacy. The aim of this project is “to provide medicine with reduced prices,” explained Mr. Karapetyan. In a city presently short of a single pharmacy, the Green Pharmacy functioned in the 19th century.
Finding owners for investment projects
Grigor Hovhannisyan, the executive director of the Fund emphasized that “Shushi Revival” is not a charity organization. He said,“We are ... creating the business and urban infrastructure of Shushi.” According to the executive director Shushi Revival is a self-sufficient fund, which can allow itself to draw plans and create investment packages for the development of the city’s infrastructure.
Over the past two years, Shushi Revival has fashioned several investment projects and packages. Mr. Hovhannisyan did not reveal the exact number of the investment packages but did say that each project was worth around $1-2 million.
Mr. Hovhannisyan did however elaborate on the quantity and nature of the investments. Thus, the renovation plan of one of the old quarters of the city contains around 35 business projects. A big-scale business project developed by the Fund is the restoration of Nataghan’s Palace, one of Shushi’s historical buildings. The implementation of the whole project, that of restoring the building and turning it into a business and tourist destination complete with shops, offices, and cafés will cost around $3.5 million.
“We first design the investment package and then try to find tbuyers,” said Mr. Hovhannisyan. He added that the Fund simply facilitates and accelerates the process of investing in Shushi.
“Currently we are working with investors that have already financed investment packages,” said Mr. Hovhannisyan.
In the past year, the Fund has researched monuments and historical buildings in Shushi, and has sketched plans for their preservation and restoration, as well as developed business projects related to them.
Most of the $5.7 million announced during the telebridge was the value of investment packages bought by investors, Mr. Hovhannisyan said. He noted that during the days and weeks following the telebridge, the whole package of investment offers grew bigger.
Prior to the telebridge, the Fund had teamed up with various communities in the diaspora, organizing business forums and presenting the investment projects. The Fund had focused its attention on the new diaspora, namely Armenian communities in Russia and former Soviet countries, because the “Armenia Fund has operated with the classical diaspora, and there are huge capitals accumulated in those countries waiting to be invested,” explained Mr. Hovhannisyan.
“Roughly stated, besides presenting the national, historical, and cultural values of Shushi, this telebridge was also a marketing space for us,” said Mr. Hovhannisyan. In the upcoming months, the Fund will do further marketing of the investment proposals in the communities of the diaspora.
The Armenian Reporter
16.02.2008
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