ArmInfo. Armenian Minister of Transport, Communications and Information Technologies Hakob Arshakyan received representatives of the Chinese construction company Sinohydro Corporation headed by Deputy Director Pan Ginren.According to the press service of the Armenian Ministry of Transport, the parties discussed issues relating to the section of the Talin-Lanzhik road within the framework of the Investment Program of the North-South Transport Corridor - Tranche-3, which is implemented by a Chinese company.
At this site, there were problems associated with both the timing of the implementation of construction work and its quality.According to Jinren, to ensure the high quality and pace of construction, appropriate work was done, additional forces were attracted, and the number of construction equipment was increased.Minister Arshakyan, in turn, stressed that the implementation of the North-South project is axial for the road construction industry of Armenia and is in the center of attention of the government. "It should be built on time and with high quality," he said .Recall that the project to create a North-South transport corridor with a total length of 556 km will allow access to the Black Sea and European countries through Armenia (Meghri-Kapan-Goris-Yerevan-Ashtarak-Gyumri-Bavra) and Georgia.
The investment program is aimed at providing communication of the north (border with Georgia) and southern Armenia (border with Iran) through transport communications that meet high international standards, and access to world markets. Tenders for the construction of the first few lines of the route were won by the Spanish Corsan Corviam, the last tender (for the Landzhik-Gyumri section in northern Armenia) was the Chinese Sinohydro Corporation. With the latter, the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Armenia signed a contract in May 2016 amounting to about $ 60 million in the framework of the 3rd tranche of the investment program. The Kajaran-Agarak project will be the fourth section of the North-South project. Within the framework of the project, it is planned to rebuild the arterial roads of Armenia from the Iranian to the Georgian border. Partially they will be rebuilt from asphalt to concrete, partially expanded. And in some areas they will build straight stretches instead of roundabout turns in the mountains.Construction of the corridor was originally planned to be completed in 2019.
Meanwhile, on September 4, at a meeting with journalists, former Minister of Transport, Communications and Information Technologies of the Republic of Armenia Ashot Hakobyan stated that the implementation of the investment program for the construction of the North-South road corridor may take another 5 to 10 years. According to him, the timing of the project will depend on funding, pace and quality of the program. According to the ex-minister, the construction will cost $ 2 billion, since only its southern section, between the cities of Artashat and Meghri, according to preliminary estimates, will cost about $ 1.5 billion. Meanwhile, 6 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 much - $ 962 million
