Participants of the protest in Armenia called for clarification on the fate of "Razdan-Cement".

Employees of "Razdan-Cement" demanded during a protest to resolve the issue of transferring the bankrupt enterprise to a new owner. This will allow the factory to resume operations and pay off debts to workers, they stated.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot", in 2016, the Armenian parliament adopted a bill for partial debt forgiveness for taxes and fines owed by "Razdan-Cement". The total amount of forgiven debt exceeded one million dollars. Experts interviewed by "Caucasian Knot" stated that debt forgiveness by the state for a factory owned by a private company is unacceptable.

Today, workers of the "Razdan-Cement" factory held a protest. They demand clarification on the fate of the enterprise and about 450 employees, reports News.am.

Earlier, information emerged that entrepreneur Narek Nalbandyan is preparing to acquire the factory, which has been inactive for many years, to attract credit resources and resume production. However, it later became known that there were problems with financing the deal, and it is possible that the acquisition of the factory may not happen at all, the publication writes.

"Razdan-Cement" is "the most profitable enterprise for the state, a strategic factory," stated at the protest one of the employees, who has worked at the factory for 44 years.

"Currently, clinker [construction and finishing material] is being brought from Iran, Georgia, Azerbaijan, but don't we have it? We do. One kiln produces 70 tons of clinker per hour, why buy from others, can't this money stay with us, in Armenia?" - his words are quoted in the publication.

The head of the grinding shop Mamikon Khublaryan noted that workers "have already had debts accumulated for two years". "Which we have not received yet. Naturally, our old debts should be paid by the bankruptcy manager. And with the new owners, we are negotiating to work and restore our jobs. From the allocated funds, our old debts will be partially paid off, and gradually all current debts will be settled. On average, the debt accumulated over two years per worker is about 3 million [drams, equivalent to 8,300 dollars]. Our desire is to be given work," Khublaryan stated at the protest.

"I am a resident of Razdan. I have two units of equipment, I am engaged in freight transportation. We are eagerly awaiting a resolution regarding 'Razdan-Cement' so that we can work, it will be better for all of us. [...] The sooner the factory can be launched, the better it will be for the residents of Razdan, for all of Armenia, there will be no problems with cement, construction will not stop. It would be good if Narek Nalbandyan bought the factory, and the state paid all the remaining money owed to the workers from previous times," said Spartak Ovanisyan at the protest.

The financial manager for the control of the "Project Inter-Invest" group of companies Arsen Poghosyan told the gathered that on September 30, an application was submitted to the bankruptcy manager "with the aim of acquiring the property of the 'Razdan-Cement' company through a direct sale option".

"This issue was brought up for discussion, on October 6 a creditors' meeting took place, during which a protocol with a positive conclusion was drawn up... The only creditor with voting rights, the bank, gave its consent, and there were no complaints or negative positions from other creditors, and on this basis, the bankruptcy manager submitted a petition to the bankruptcy court, which is under the jurisdiction of the judge... A lot of time has passed, but we still do not have consent, and each day of its absence leads to the fact that this giant, which has enormous strategic significance, is not being operated. As a result, the corresponding jobs are not filled with the necessary employees. We do not have the opportunity to produce competitive and quality products," Poghosyan is quoted by the publication.

According to Poghosyan, the problem is that there are no clear deadlines for when the court's decision will be published. "In this uncertainty, we ourselves do not understand how long this may continue? Winter is ahead, we have a thousand problems to solve, there are agreements. I will say more, from the very beginning, when we were recognized as the winners of the auction, we started a fairly large investment program, having already invested about 2 million dollars," he said.

The "Razdan-Cement" factory is one of two cement factories in Armenia. In 2016, due to accumulated debts, the enterprise was transferred to VTB Bank (Armenia), which became its full owner. At the end of 2017, the factory was acquired by "Razdan Cement Corporation", but in 2022, the process of declaring the enterprise bankrupt began, reports "Sputnik-Armenia" today.

In September, the property of the factory, which had previously gone bankrupt and had not operated for a long time, was purchased for 11.1 billion drams (about 28.5 million dollars) by the Armenian company "Project Inter-Invest", owned by businessman Narek Nalbandyan, the publication states.