ArmInfo. Spanish company CorsanCorviam Construccion S.A., contractor in the implementation of the first and secondthe tranche for the construction of the North-South transport corridor, owed about 17 subcontractors to more than 1.5 billion drams.
The Minister of Transport, Communications and IT Hakob Arshakyan told reporters on March 25 after a government meeting.Recall, back in December 2018, employees of the construction of the Ashtrak-Talin section of the road within the framework of Tranche-2 "Investment Corridor North- South "blocked the road Yerevan - Talin and demanding a salary, which, according to them, they owed them from August.According to the minister, the Spanish company received payment for the work done in full. For whatever reason, Corsan Corviam itself did not pay for the services of subcontractors, the Ministry of Transport does not know.
Nevertheless, as pointed out by Arshakyan, the ministry repeatedly called on the Spaniards to adhere to the framework of partnership relations. "After all, Armenia fulfilled its obligations under the North-South program in full," he assured.Recall that the project to create a North-South transport corridor with a total length of 556 km will allow access to the Black Sea and European countries through Armenia (Meghri- Kapan-Goris-Yerevan-Ashtarak-Gyumri-Bavra) and Georgia.The investment program is aimed at providing communication of the north (border with Georgia) and southern Armenia (border with Iran) through transport communications that meet high international standards, and access to world markets.Tenders for the construction of the first few lines of the route were won by the Spanish Corsan Corviam, the last tender (for the Landzhik-Gyumri section in northern Armenia) was the Chinese Sinohydro Corporation. With the latter, the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Armenia signed a contract in May 2016 amounting to about $ 60 million in the framework of the 3rd tranche of the investment program.
The Kajaran-Agarak project will be the fourth section of the North-South project. Within the framework of the project, it is planned to rebuild the arterial roads of Armenia from the Iranian to the Georgian border. Partially they will be rebuilt from asphalt to concrete, partially expanded. And in some areas they will build straight stretches instead of roundabout turns in the mountains.Construction of the corridor was originally planned to be completed in 2019. Meanwhile, on September 4, 2017, at a meeting with journalists, the former Minister of Transport, Communications and Information Technologies of the RA, Ashot Hakobyan, said that the implementation of the investment program for building the North-South road corridor can take from 5 to 10 more years. According to him, the timing of the project will depend on funding, pace and quality of the program. According to the ex-minister, construction will cost $ 2 billion, since only its southern section, between the cities of Artashat and Meghri, according to a preliminary estimate, will cost about $ 1.5 billion. 7 years ago, in September 2012, when the construction of the highway, the amount that representatives of the Armenian government called was more than half as much - $ 962 million. -