ArmInfo. Yerevan offers Tehran to carry out multimodal transportation until the problem of Iran-Armenia railway construction is solved, Armenia's Minister of Transport and Communications Gagik Beglaryan stated in the Armenian parliament today.
According to him, it is proposed to carry out road haulage from Iran to Armenian town of Yeraskh, from where to organize further railway transportation to Georgian Black Sea ports and further to Bulgaria and Romania. At the same time the cost of the transportation will be by $500 less than the cost of service offered by Azerbaijan. The minister assured that the Iranian companies are interested in Armenian side's offer. For the project implementation a tender will be announced in the nearest future for construction of Agarak-Sisian road, a part of North-South road corridor, which will allow to reduce the time of transportation by 2 hours. This part of the road will be put into operation in the end of 2019. "Iran demonstrates constructive approach to both Armenia's offer and construction of Iran-Armenia railway however, the main obstacle for construction is lack of necessary financial funds", the minister stated.
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.
Armenia and Iran signed a concession agreement in May 2012. In cooperation with Dubai-based investment company, Rasia FZE, a feasibility study of the Southern Railway project was developed. The feasibility study of the project Southern Railway of Armenia (Iran-Armenia railway) is ready.It is anticipated that the construction will take 6 years. The railway is supposed to connect Asia with Central Europe. It will be 305 km long and will consist of 86 bridges and 60 tunnels. The estimated cost of the project is $3.5bn.According to the program the construction is to be finished by 2022. It is anticipated that the annual freight activity on the railway route from Gagarin Station (Gegharkunik region) to Agarak (Syunik region) will total 25 million tons. This route is by 44 shorter than the earlier planned railway section Gavar-Agarak. It will be linked to the operating railway network. The launch of the Southern Railway of Armenia and Southern Highway of Armenia was announced in Jan 2013. Then a trilateral Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the South Caucasus Railway of Armenia, Ministry of Transport and Communications of Armenia and Rasia FZE.