ArmInfo. The NA Standing Committee on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs debated the draft law on Ratifying Additional Agreement No.4 of the Agreement between the Republic of Armenia and the Eurasian Development Bank on the provision of an investment loan from the funds of the Eurasian Stabilization and Development Fund for financing of the draft on Constructing the North-South Highway Corridor (4th shift) at April 25 sitting, the press service of the RA NA reports.
According to the key rapporteur, the RA Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Kristine Ghalechyan, the Agreement designs the construction of a 32 km long road around the North-South highway corridor, the total cost of which is estimated at 236,681,000 US dollars. It was noted that the additional Agreement No.4 of the Agreement signed between the Republic of Armenia and the Eurasian Development Bank on 14 April 2015 was signed on 17 November 2022. According to the Deputy Minister, the aim of the programme is to increase the capacity of the above-mentioned road section and to reduce accidents. According to Kristine Ghalechyan, the additional Agreement envisages to extend the term of access to credit funds and the increase of funds for the construction of the 32 km Agarak-Kajaran road. The Deputy Minister stated that the construction works will start this year. According to her, three years are planned for construction works. The Chair of the NA Standing Committee on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs Gevorg Papoyan mentioned that the policy of the Government and the objective of our country is to become a part of the North-South Corridor. In order to become a part of the great trade route India-Iran-Armenia- Georgia-Black Sea-Bulgaria-Greece, it is necessary to have modern, developed infrastructures, the implementation of which is aimed at the additional costs designed in the Agreement. As a result of the debate, the draft law was endorsed.
It should be noted that the international tender for construction work was announced on October 24, 2022. In December last year, the opening of tenders took place. At this stage, applications from international construction companies are evaluated. Earlier, Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures Gnel Sanosyan reported that at present only the Artashat-Yerevan-Ashtarak section is fully ready for operation within the North-South transport corridor. According to him, only one of the five tranches has been completed. The construction of the remaining four tranches is at various stages of implementation. The North-South project will reduce the distance from the Iranian border to the Georgian border from 556 to 490 kilometers. The road will significantly facilitate access to the Black Sea not only for Armenia, but also for Iran. The 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 corridor was initially scheduled to be completed in 2019. The cost of the project was constantly revised and increased. Meanwhile, in September 2012, when the construction of the highway began, the amount mentioned by the representatives of the RA government was several times less: 962 million dollars.
