Armenian government recognizes number of territories in Syunik as  "overriding public interest" for construction of North-South Corridor

ArmInfo. Land plots of 14 settlements of the Syunik region of Armenia will be alienated for the construction of a new section of the Sisian-Kajaran road within the  framework of the Tranche-4 investment program of the North-South Road  Corridor. On June 30, the Armenian government recognized these  territories as "overriding public interest."

According to Minister of  Territorial Administration and Infrastructures of Armenia Gnel  Sanosyan, it is about 570 land plots, on which 60 km of the road will  be built. This section will have 27 bridges with a total length of  4.7 km and 9 tunnels with a total length of 12.6 km. Tenders for  construction have not yet been held, the minister said.

It should be reminded that the North-South Road Corridor project will  provide access to the Black Sea and European countries through the  territory of Armenia (Meghri-Kapan-Goris-Yerevan-Ashtarak-Gyumri-  Bavra) and Georgia. The investment program is aimed at ensuring the  connection  of the north (border with Georgia) and the south of  Armenia (border  with Iran) through transport communications that  meet high  international standards and access to world markets. Since  the launch of the program (since 2009) to this day, a section  of  only 31 km has been built, which is a little more than 5% of the   total kilometer of the road. 

It should be noted that the North-South Road Corridor project with a  total length of 556 km is currently estimated at $3.5 billion (at the  time the project was launched, the amount was less than $1 billion),  of which $1.5 billion is needed only for the Sisian-Agarak section,  which includes the Sisian-Kajaran road ($920 million), the tunnel (7  km, $250 million), the Qajaran-Agarak road (32 km, $249 million).  6  years are envisaged for the implementation of the Sisian-Kajaran  section of the road, it is planned to build a new road of the II  technical category with an estimated speed of 100 km / h, with a  total length of about 60 km, including 4.7 km of bridges and tunnels  with a total length of 12.5 km ., the longest of which is the  Bargushat tunnel, which will be 8.6 km long. As a result, it will be  possible to reduce the length of the Sisian-Kajaran road by about 58  km, increase the average speed by 50 km/h, set it within 100 km/h,  reduce travel time by about 1.5-2 hours, as well as improve driving  comfort and safety.