ArmInfo. May 25 this year Road traffic from Yerevan to Ashtarak highway being constructed "North-South". Minister of Transport, Communication and Information Technologies of Armenia Vahan Martirosyan told journalists on May 5.
Nevertheless, the minister continued, the work on the bridges will continue and end at the end of September 2017. The main problem is the construction of bridges, under two of which the movement is already open. The work, Martirosyan stressed, was held at the proper level. Previously, there were some shortcomings, which were subsequently eliminated. Moreover, for these shortcomings, the Spanish company Corsan Corviam, which builds the North-South highway, was fined $ 5.7 million. Now the work is being carried out according to schedule.
The transport corridor "North-South" with a total length of 556 km will allow Armenia to provide access to the Black Sea and European countries along the Meghri-Kapan-Goris-Yerevan-Ashtarak-Gyumri-Bavra route and Georgia. The $ 1 billion investment program is aimed at securing the connection between the north (the border with Georgia) and southern Armenia (the border with Iran) through transport communications that meet high international standards and access to world markets. The road will be covered with concrete. To implement the project, Armenia raised a loan from the Asian Development Bank in the amount of $ 500 million. Another $ 150 million will be provided by the Eurasian Development Bank. The Armenian side also attracted 60 million EUR from the European Investment Bank for the implementation of the project. The construction of the corridor is planned to be completed in 2019. Under the "North-South" program, the Armenian government calculated the preliminary savings of $ 2.5 per hour for each passenger and $ 1 per hour for transporting a ton of cargo. As the authorities of Armenia expect, the program will allow the country in the future to mitigate the consequences of the blockade on the part of Azerbaijan and Turkey, to play the role of a transit state in the freight transportation of the countries of the region, and also to join the Black Sea ring highway.