In Soviet Armenia, as in L.A., You Can’t See the Summit for the Smog

The ancient city of Yerevan, the capital of Soviet Armenia, is blessed with a splendid view of biblical Mt. Ararat, but sometimes it’s hard to see the mountain because of the smog.

The Communist authorities have undertaken a series of measures to reduce the pollution but, like their capitalist counterparts in the West, they are reluctant to crack down on the growing number of private cars that aggravate the problem.

“There would be a real protest if they tried to interfere with private motorists,” one driver said.

From a revolving bar atop the 17-story Palace of Youth, thick black smoke can be seen rising from Yerevan’s factories, adding to the layer of smog embracing the legendary mountain’s twin peaks.

Ararat, where Noah is said to have docked his ark, lies across the border in Turkey, but Armenians regard it as a symbol of a lost homeland from which they were driven or fled at the time of the Armenian massacres by the Turks in 1915.

Yerevan traces its history back 2,767 years, making it the oldest city in the Soviet Union. It has nearly 1.2 million people, a third of the population of Armenia, the smallest of the 15 republics that make up the Soviet Union.

The ambitious Armenians of Yerevan own more private cars per capita than the people of any other city in the Soviet Union, including Moscow. There are 60,000 private cars here, one for every 20 people, contrasted with a ratio of 1 to 47 for the Soviet Union as a whole. (The U.S. ratio is about 1 to 2).

Public transportation consists mainly of buses, though the city has a new, six-station subway system that may help to reduce the congestion.

Earlier this year, the Politburo of the Armenian Communist Party started a campaign designed to reduce air pollution to more tolerable levels by 1990.

Among other things, taxis, buses and trucks owned by the state will be converted to use liquefied natural gas fuel. The transition will be costly, and special refueling stations will have to be built, but the authorities believe the step is essential.

In addition, 10 or more factories will be moved beyond the city limits to reduce their impact on air quality. New pollution control devices will be installed at other plants.

Spartak Hachaturian, deputy chairman of the City Council, said the smog is much worse in winter, when the winds subside and foul air settles in the bowl-shaped valley that forms the center of Yerevan. “There is much to be done,” he said.

He was noncommittal, however, on measures to restrict driving of private cars, measures that have been mentioned in the Communist Party daily for Yerevan.

“This question is also important, . . . but no final decision has been taken,” he said.

The city has monitoring stations to determine whether auto exhausts are emitting pollutants at excessive levels, Hachaturian said. Just as in Los Angeles, however, many vehicles in the busy streets could be seen spouting thick black fumes.

Yerevan has devoted special attention to planting trees, bushes and grass to help purify the air, even though they all require irrigation because of the dry climate.

“In the last 10 years, we managed to increase the land with greenery by 10 square meters for each person,” he said, with obvious pride.

The ultimate control on pollution may be a cap on the growth of the city. State planning officials have ruled that Yerevan is growing too fast and called for measures to limit its population.

As a result, residence permits have been limited and restrictions have been placed on the creation of new jobs in the city. For example, Graduates of Yerevan’s 14 institutes and universities may remain in the capital only if they were residents before they enrolled.