Serzh Sargsyan on the construction of the transport corridor "North-South": We preferred stability in the country for the rapid construction of the road

ArmInfo. There will be no  problems with the financing of the North-South investment program.  The President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan in an interview with the  TV channel stated this. "There will be enough financial  resources to implement the program," the president said.

According to him, changes in the project's estimated cost in the  direction of its price increase are almost two-fold due to various  circumstances. The initial assessment, he noted, did not take into  account all the nuances that arose during the project implementation,  since the program had no analogues in the history of Armenia. An  important role was also played by the global financial crisis, which  forced Armenia to increase the debt burden in order to maintain  social stability inside the country. "We preferred the speedy  construction of the road in the country. We could have an additional  150 km of the finished road, but at the same time, social tension in  the country," said Serzh Sargsyan, stressing that long-term programs,  of course, are mandatory for execution, but they subject to  adjustments in accordance with the specific interests of the country.

In 2018, $ 47 million will be spent on the continuation of the  program for the construction of the North- South transport corridor.  The funds will be attracted in the form of loans from the Asian  Development Bank, the European Investment Bank and the Eurasian  Development Bank, another 2.8 billion drams will be received in the  form of a grant from the European Investment Bank. The main front of  work next year will unfold on the 84 km of the highway, which  provides for laying concrete for 40-45 km. The works, in particular,  will be carried out on the road section from the cities of Ashtarak  to Gyumri. As a result, the road from 2 lanes will expand to 4, and  instead of asphalt will be laid concrete.

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 by 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.