YEREVAN, JANUARY 23, NOYAN TAPAN. Although in the last few years Yerevan Mayor's Office has taken all measures to regulate street trade, this work is still not quite effective. The Head of the Trade and Services Department of Yerevan Mayor's Office Karen Gevorgian said at the January 22 press conference that many citizens do not realize that foodstuffs sold in streets are harmful to health as their sale is conducted in conditions not meeting sanitary and hygienic norms. According to him, the Armenian president gave instructions to pay more attention to installation and design of trade pavilions in Yerevan streets. Robert Kocharian also proposed building small trade centers in various parts of the city. K. Gevorgian said that the mayor's office received many complaints from Yerevan residents about bakeries, suanas, dry cleaner's, etc. functioning in the basements of residential buildings. These complaints are mainly well-grounded as the operation of such facilities in basements is forbidden by law. Since January 1, 2007, the mayor's office has been sending written warnings to owners of such facilities so that they will change their activity type to another one. If the owners do not take respective steps within two months, the mayor's office will apply to court. The department head also addressed the problem of public lavatories. In his words, last year 7 land allotments were made for this purpose by the mayor's decision, and there will be 50 allotmemts in 2007.

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