Monday, November 26 2018 11:40

ArmInfo. The Eurasian Fund for Stabilization and Development (EFSD), whose funds are managed by the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) will direct about $ 150 million  to build the southern sections on the North-South highway in Armenia.  EFST Executive Director Andrei Shirokov told ArmInfo correspondent  about this.

According to him, at the moment the project is at the stage of active  discussions with the Armenian government, with which there is a  constant dialogue, the bureau for the implementation of the program  is working. "We receive information on reports, according to which a  tender is currently being held to select a consultant who will  prepare a detailed design for the southern section of the road. It is  planned that by the end of the year the results of this competition  will be known, an agreement will be signed with the winner of the  tender, which will start work on the design of the future highway ",  the executive director of the fund informed.

Answering the question that the project was frozen at the request of  the Armenian side

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because of revelation of numerous violations,  Andrey Shirokov stressed that the project itself is a huge one. If we  talk about the 32 km section financed by the foundation, then no  construction work has yet been carried out on it, and, therefore,  there could be no abuses there in fact. "There is one common project  for which different donors allocate funds, and there is our  participation in which a tender is being held to select a consultant.   There is still a long way to start construction. If a consultant is  selected this year, the design process will take not less than six  months, only after that a tender for the selection of contractors  will be announced.  "Thus, the immediate work will begin no earlier  than in 1.5 years," Shirokov said, adding that in this connection  there will be no talk of abuse. "If they took place in other areas,  then we don't know about them," the fund's executive director said,  noting that the fund's purpose is to provide funding. The government  of the RA sets the technical side. The fund will monitor the quality  of work,  that is competitiveness, implementation of open and  transparent procurement policies and social responsibility, Usually  the matter concerns the policy of the World Bank and the Asian  Development Bank. These policies envisage tightening monitoring of  compliance with the quality of work. "We only control the compliance  of competitions with policies which are provided for under the loan  agreement, specifically according to our agreement we plan to apply  the policy of the World Bank," the executive director of the fund  said.

To note, on September 5, the Prosecutor General's Office of Armenia  opened a criminal case on the fact of inefficient use of financial  resources and abuse of official position during the construction of  the North- South highway. The investigations were carried out on the  basis of a certificate provided by the Ministry of Transport,  Communications and Information Technology. In particular, it was  revealed that officials involved in the development and  implementation of the program during 2009-2018 without appropriate  justification and research, repeatedly unreasonably changed the terms  of the project - the contracts concluded with consultants and  contractors were thus involved in inefficient and unreasonable work.   Moreover, they accepted documents drawn up with obvious flaws. In  addition, the officials involved in the process of developing and  implementing the program, unreasonably, without the right to  compensation for damage, agreed to continue construction and extend  the time frame for the provision of advisory services.  In some  cases, consulting services contracts increased the prices for  consultants, and the services provided included repetitive works that  were not necessary. Also, no measures were taken to ensure daily  monitoring of the implementation of standards for the quality of  building materials, and in particular, cement. As a result of  agreeing on the changes with contractors, despite the obvious  shortcomings in construction and concreting that were recorded,  sections of the roads within Tranche-1 (Yerevan-Artashat and Yerevan-  Ashtarak) were put into operation. Thus, the Prosecutor General's  Office states that the officials involved in the program did not  fulfill their official duties, negligently leading to grave  consequences. In particular, in addition to the fact that for about 9  years, all the stipulated periods were completed, during which the  construction of the North-South road was not finished and related  expectations regarding the shortening of the time, safe and  high-quality transport connection between the north and the south of  the country, the development of business connections did not come  true. As a result, the state was damaged in the amount of 23.5  billion drams. On the basis of the above, the General Prosecutor's  Office opened a criminal case on the basis of the second part of  Article 308 of the RA Criminal Code, transferring it to the  Investigative Committee for the preliminary investigation.  Earlier,  ArmInfo reported that in the section of the North-South transport  corridor - Yerevan-Artashat, which was commissioned at the end of  2015, pits were formed, and in some sections - cracks. Meanwhile,  according to the actual estimate of $ 2 million for 1 km. the road  was supposed to be great. Work on this site was performed by the  Spanish company "Corsan Corviam". The situation is no better in the  Talin- Landzhik section, which is being built by the Chinese company  Sinohidro Corporation, which has committed numerous violations.  Meanwhile, in 2018 alone, $ 47 million will be allocated to continue  the construction of the North-South transport corridor. The funds  will be attracted as credit resources from the Asian Development  Bank, the European Investment Bank and the Eurasian Development Bank,  another 2.8 billion drams are planned to be received as a grant from  the European Investment Bank. Next year, the main scope of work will  unfold on 84 km of the highway, on which it is planned to lay  concrete at 40-45 km. The works, in particular, will be carried out  on the road section from Ashtarak to Gyumri cities. As a result, the  road will expand from 2 lanes to 4, and instead of asphalt, concrete  will be laid. According to current calculations, the construction of  the entire 556-kilometer North-South highway, which stretches from  Bavra to Meghri, will cost more than $ 2 billion, since its only  southern section, between the cities of Artashat and Meghri, is  estimated to cost $ 1.5. billion. Meanwhile, five years ago, in  September 2012, when the construction of the highway began, the  amount that representatives of the Armenian government called was  more than half as less- $ 962 million. Today, 150.3 million dollars  and 23.14 million euros have been spent. At the moment, only a 31 km  section was built and modernized, for which $ 70 million was spent.  The remaining amount was allocated to carry out excavation work on  the Ashtarak-Talin and Talin- Gyumri sections. Work was also carried  out on concreting the road at 11 km. The construction of the corridor  was originally planned to be completed in 2019, however, as stated by  the Minister of Transport, Communications and Information  Technologies of the Republic of Armenia Ashot Hakobyan, the deadlines  are delayed by 5-10 years. Under the "North-South" program, the  Armenian government estimated a preliminary saving 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 to mitigate the consequences of the blockade from Azerbaijan  and Turkey in the future, to play the role of a transit state in  cargo transportation of the countries of the region, and also to join  the Black Sea ring highway.