ArmInfo. Yerevan-Artashat and Yerevan-Ashtarak road sections, which are part of North-South road corridor will be put into exploitation in the end of May, Minister of Transport and Communications Gagik Beglaryan stated at the Armenian parliament today.
The minister also recalled that tenders were organized and the winners were announced on the two other sections of the road-Talin-Lanjik and Lanjik-Gyumri, the construction will launch in upcoming 10 days.
The construction of concrete sections of North-South road with a total length of 31 km from Yerevan to Artashat and Ashtarak was financed within the 1 tranche. The amount of financing totaled 70. 4 mln USD. Another 179.6 mln USD will be provided for construction activities of Ashtarak-Talin 42 km section.
The minister also noted that 150 mln USD a loan from Eurasian Development Bank will be provided for Meghri-Kajaran section. The tenders foe construction were postponed as the government made a decision to construct this 22 km section using not concrete but asphalt surface.
To recall, the Government of Armenia approved the investment program of the North- South transport corridor on Jan 14 2010 and a framework financial agreement between Armenia and ADB in the amount of 500 million dollars. The North-South 556km motorway will be laid via the Armenian towns of Meghri- Kapan-Goris-Yerevan- Ashtarak-Gyumri-Bavra and enter the territory of Georgia on Akhaltsikhe-Batumi section, which will settle some transport problems of Armenia. This will be a four-lane motorway of reinforced concrete extending from the Armenian border and Iran to the Georgian port Batumi. The road corridor will facilitate improving the road connection with the two neighbors of Armenia: Iran and Georgia, providing access to international trade routes and markets. Agarak-Kapan-Yerevan-Gyumri_Bavra road links the South of the country with the North providing access to "Southern Road Corridor" of Georgia which enables access to Poti and Batumi ports or to the East towards Tbilisi. Armenia raised $500mln loan from the Asian Development Bank for the project that is estimated at $1 billion. Eurasian Development Bank is ready to provide $150 million. Armenia raised $60 million from the European investment Bank. Due to the project, the overland communication Europe-Caucasus-Asia will be improved. The project will be completed by 2019. It will allow Armenia to soften the consequences of the blockade by Azerbaijan and Turkey and to join the Black Sea ring highway. North-South project was initiated by Russia and Iran and implies activation of transport activity, including through construction of new transport communication Russia- Iran-India. Armenia and Iran top leaderships are studying construction of a railway to link the two countries and become part of North-South transport corridor.