Monday, March 25 2019 17:18

ArmInfo. Spanish company CorsanCorviam Construccion S.A., contractor in the implementation of the first and secondthe tranche for the construction of the  North-South transport corridor, owed about 17 subcontractors to more  than 1.5 billion drams.

The Minister of Transport, Communications and IT Hakob Arshakyan told reporters on March 25 after a government meeting.Recall, back in December 2018, employees of the construction of the Ashtrak-Talin section of the road within the framework of  Tranche-2 "Investment Corridor North- South "blocked the road Yerevan  - Talin and demanding a salary, which, according to them, they owed  them from August.According to the minister, the Spanish company  received payment for the work done in full. For whatever reason,  Corsan Corviam itself did not pay for the services of subcontractors,  the Ministry of Transport does not know. 

Nevertheless, as pointed out by Arshakyan, the ministry repeatedly  called on the Spaniards to adhere to the framework of partnership  relations. "After all, Armenia fulfilled its obligations under the  North-South program in full," he assured.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, 2017, at a meeting with  journalists, the former Minister of Transport, Communications and  Information Technologies of the RA, Ashot Hakobyan, said that the  implementation of the investment program for building the North-South  road corridor can take from 5 to 10 more years. According to him, the  timing of the project will depend on funding, pace and quality of the  program. According to the ex-minister, construction will cost $ 2  billion, since only its southern section, between the cities of  Artashat and Meghri, according to a preliminary estimate, will cost  about $ 1.5 billion. 7 years ago, in September 2012, when the  construction of the highway, the amount that representatives of the  Armenian government called was more than half as much - $ 962  million. -