The head of the Armenian Ministry of Transport and representatives of  Sinohydro Corporation discussed the construction of the North-South  Transport Corridor

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