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.