ArmInfo. The World Bank will open additional financing for Armenia in the form of a loan of $ 2 million for the implementation of the program "Improving the irrigation system". The agreement with the Bank was ratified by the Armenian parliament at the meeting on April 12.
According to the chairmen of the State Committee for Water Resources of the Republic of Armenia, Arsen Harutyunyan, additional funding under the $ 2 million Irrigation System Improvement Program will be provided through the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development for a period of 25 years with a 14.5-year grace period on the floating spread. The agreement was signed on November 20, 2017 and is a continuation of the $ 37 million credit program approved in 2013. 890 farmers of Armenia will be able to use the program, which is aimed at increasing efficiency and sustainable irrigation. Additional investments will include the construction of on-farm irrigation systems, in particular, for the completion of the gravity water supply system envisaged for the Bagramyan-Norakert section, since the existing system is not capable of providing reliable delivery of irrigation water directly to farm sites.
The gravity system Bagramyan-Norakert includes the construction of a canal with a length of about 5 km, which will receive water from the channel Tkahan (source - Lake Sevan) and deliver it through a reconstructed gravity system to the territory of agricultural land with an area of approximately 573 hectares. After the construction of the canal, three pump stations (Noraket 1-2 and Bagramyan 1), whose service life has expired, will no longer be available. Another achievement of the project is the completion of the construction of three gravity systems in Meghri. At present, the construction of the systems of the Gekhardalich and Kakhtsrashen samovars is under way. The expected final result is a saving of 36.4 million kWh of electricity per year and 5 million cubic meters of water, which is equivalent to about 30% of the total irrigation demand in Armenia. The program will be completed by the middle of this year, it remains to complete the work for the amount of 200 million drams. Arsen Harutyunyan noted that a $ 30 million loan saved $ 1.3 million, which is also aimed at continuing the implementation of the program, but already in the Meghri region, where an additional water pipeline is planned.
The head of the State Vodkhodkhoz also informed that 15 thousand kilometers of water pipelines in Armenia need modernization, and this task is to be accomplished within several years. As early as next year, the Arpa-Sevan tunnel will be put into operation, thanks to which Lake Sevan will annually replenish 100 million cubic meters of water, and the mirror of water in the lake will increase by 5-7 cm per year. Armenia, which since 1992 is a member of the World Bank and since 1993 - the International Development Association (IDA), as a whole, has been provided with funds worth $ 2.3 billion.