Deputy mayor admits flaws in Yerevan pothole works

PanARMENIAN.Net - There was no shortage of bitumen during the organization of pothole repair works in Yerevan, but there were shortcomings, First Deputy Mayor Armen Pambukhchyan said.

He also noted that in previous years pothole repairs were not carried out in February.

“We have sections where the contractor has approached the work requirements improperly. We have cases — in particular, today we found that on Vardanants Street pothole repairs were carried out without bitumen. That asphalt will be removed entirely at the contractor’s expense, meaning the municipality will not spend funds there, and we will receive the quality of repair stipulated by council decisions and procedures,” he said, according to Radar Armenia.

According to the deputy mayor, an unprecedented amount of snow led to increased use of salt.

“In 2025, the application of salt and sand was 2.5 times higher due to heavy snowfall. There has been an unprecedented amount of snow in the past 10 years,” he said.

He added that on streets where medium-scale repairs and pothole filling were carried out in 2024–2025, almost no potholes were recorded despite the same volume of salt and sand being used.

Pambukhchyan said that urgent solutions were applied under force majeure conditions.

“In February, pothole repairs generally did not take place for several reasons: on the one hand, the weather; on the other, construction companies begin retooling their asphalt plants during the winter months and plan to complete this between March 1 and 10, assuming that weather conditions will improve and paving will be carried out.

But due to the force majeure situation we faced — heavy snowfall and large-scale salt and sand treatment — one contractor, at our request, was able to reconstruct and restart the plant. If I am not mistaken, a second plant began operating in recent days. In reality, we acted under force majeure conditions and provided urgent solutions to overcome the situation,” he said.

Public discontent has grown over the large number of potholes on Yerevan’s streets that became visible after the snow melted.