Minister of Transport of Armenia excludes presence of practice of "kickbacks" in road construction

ArmInfo. Minister of Transport,  Communications and Information Technologies of Armenia Vahan  Martirosyan excludes the presence of practice of "kickbacks" in road  construction. "If there are facts proving the contrary, I ask to  share them," Vahan Martirosyan stated in an interview with  journalists on April 6 after the meeting of the country's government.  At the same time, responding to the question of ArmInfo, the minister  acknowledged that the condition of many roads in Armenia remains  unsatisfactory.

According to the Minister, there are many problems related to road  construction, but we must reckon with the financial possibilities.  Within three weeks, the Ministry of Transport promises to make  proposals in this direction, but recognizes that even a  billion-dollar investment cannot solve this problem in a short time.

According to Vahan Martirosyan, the rehabilitation and repair of  roads in Armenia will require very serious investments, since the  roads in Armenia require major repairs, rather than temporary  solutions in the form of a separate backfill, as is usually done. "At  this stage, the necessary amount of investment is being specified."  According to preliminary calculations, huge investments are  required," said the head of the Ministry of Transport, promising to  give more specific information within three weeks." The expected  investments, as the minister explained, involve both budgetary funds  and investments from International donors, and despite the desire of  the Government not to increase the country's debt burden, as  explained by Martirosyan, in the matter of improving roads, the  government will have to go on attracting external credit However, as  Vahan Martirosyan stated, there is no hope that the local business  will express a desire to invest in road construction - the state can  not force the business to build roads. However, if the business is  interested in financing road construction, then afterwards they will  be paid.

As the minister pointed out, the reasons for this state of the roads  of Armenia are not only that overhaul has not been done for a long  time, but also in the climatic conditions of the country. "You can  see the temperature changes in Armenia: from +50 in summer to -30 and  -40 degrees in winter, in such conditions road maintenance is  extremely difficult," he said.

Nevertheless, as Martirosyan noted, roads built in recent years in  the republic are of high quality. For example, as he assured, the new  road to Georgia (Vanadzor - Alaverdi - the border of Georgia) will  serve the term of 12 years. "According to the standards, the lifespan  of a new road with asphalt concrete pavement is estimated at 12  years, but with the condition of routine repairs on the 7th or 8th  year," he explained.

The head of the Ministry of Transport, Communications and IT does not  agree with the fact that unsatisfactory state of roads can be  associated with poor quality of the supplied bitumen. As Vahan  Martirosyan assured, there can be no censures, because, according to  the conclusion of relevant laboratories, the bitumen used in road  construction corresponds to the established standards.