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62 out of the 4,642 elevators operating in the residential buildings in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, are in poor condition, according to the results of an inspection carried out by the emergencies ministry’s department dealing with the elevator safety.

Speaking at a news conference on Tuesday, Director of the Elevator Technical Safety Inspection Lusine Hovhannisyan said around 500 elevators in the capital are being monitored at the moment, with the results to be available by the end of 2018.

She pointed to the fact that the majority of elevators operating Yerevan’s bloc of flats were installed during the Soviet period, meantime adding the Yerevan Municipality allocates funds from the city budget to carry out elevator maintenance works annually.

“In 2007-2008, a great deal of work was done; more than 2,000 elevators were fundamentally renovated, 30 elevators were replaced by brand new ones, but it’s also no secret that elevators have normative resources for their exploitation with a span of around 25 years, but given the fact that many elevators haven’t been exploited or have been robbed for years due to power outage, they are worn out faster,” she said.

The expert next called attention to the lack of spare parts, since the elevators were produced by Soviet-era factories that no longer operate.

Meantime, she said if the shortcomings detected in the 62 elevators do not threat technical accidents, the department will set a deadline for their elimination.

Commenting on the question of Panorama.am over the price of an elevator expertise, the expert said it costs 2,930 drams (approx. $6), while replacing an elevator costs at least $18,000-$20,000 depending on the new elevator’s quality.