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ARMENIA DAILY DIGEST
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From: Ina Iankulova (iiankulova@sorosny.org)
Date: Mon Apr 14 2003 - 12:35:10 EDT
ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT APPROVES CONTROVERSIAL AIRPORT DEVELOPMENT PLAN
The Armenian government approved on 11 April a controversial $59 million plan to modernize Zvartnots International Airport, according to RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau. The eight-year modernization and expansion project is to be carried out by Argentina's Corporacion America group, which is controlled by Eduardo Eurnekian, an Argentine billionaire of Armenian descent. The project includes plans for the construction of two new terminals and the modernization of several other airport facilities at the airport in Yerevan. There has been considerable controversy over the project, mainly stemming from the closed negotiations that forged a 30-year management contract in late 2001 that granted the company the right to create a small tax-free economic zone within the airport despite heated criticism from the opposition. The Armenian parliament adopted legislation in May 2002 that granted the company preferential treatment and stipulated that a 1 square kilometer zone within the airport could house businesses fully exempt f
rom profit taxes and other duties. The parliament also amended legislation to allow foreign investors to operate casinos inside the airport. RG
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