PanARMENIAN.Net - At the government meeting, Deputy Prime Minister TigranKhachatryan stated that the new road section from Kajaran to Agarak - part of the NorthSouth main highway - will reach 30% completion by the end of 2025.
He said the total cost of the work is estimated at US$214million, of which US$70million will be realized by the end of the year.
Prime Minister NikolPashinyan emphasised that the Iranian contractor consortium ("AbadRahanPars International Group" and "TunnelSaddAriana") is working at a pace previously unseen in Armenia.
Khachatryan noted that the acceleration of work had surprised the government: at the start of the year, the Ministry of Finance allocated less for payments than what turned out to be required, so an additional AMD8.4billion (about US$22million) will now be allocated. The road is being constructed with a loan from the Eurasian Development Bank, cofinanced by the government.
The decision also allows for smaller allocations for land acquisition on the Kajaran-Sisian segment and for a technical review of a 8.6km Bargushat tunnel project. The Finance Minister recalled that loan agreements are already signed with the European Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the Asian Development Bank for financing the Sisian-Kajaran stretch. Tendering for technical supervision has been announced; tenders for the road works will be issued by yearend.
The new 32km Kajaran-Agarak section is expected to cut travel time from the Iranian border to Kapan by roughly half an hour. For the YerevanGyumri highway, the final two segments (34km and 8km) are expected to finish by yearend, with the full road operational by spring.
According to Khachatryan, North-South is one of independent Armenia's largestscale projects: the highway (partially new, partially upgraded) will reduce the distance from the Iranian to the Georgian border from 550km to 460km and ease access to the Black Sea, not only for Armenia but also for India and the Persian Gulf basin countries.
Source: PanArmenian.Net
