Armenia, Iran to cancel road taxes

ArmInfo.Armenia and Iran have agreed to abolish road taxes.  Iran's Minister of Roads and  Urban Development, Mehrdad Bazrpash, informed journalists on October  23 within the framework of the signing of the agreement on the start  of construction works of the Agarak- Kajaran road section in the  North-South transport corridor.

"During the discussions, we came to good agreements - to cancel road  taxes, which will affect the increase in the efficiency of economic  relations between our countries," Mehrdad Bazrpash said. In this  context, he said that it was agreed that the Armenian side will also  initiate relevant legislative processes.  Speaking about other  agreements, the minister noted that Armenia and Iran also agreed to  establish a working group that will coordinate the construction of a  bridge over the Araks River, as well as a joint committee for  projects in the field of housing construction and school construction  in Armenia.  Earlier today, representatives of Armenia and Iran,  represented by Gor Avetisyan  Executive Director of the Road  Department Fund of Armenia, as well as Ali Mousavi and Alen  Yousefian, representatives of Abad Rahan Pars International Group and  Tunnel Sadd Ariana joint venture signed an agreement on the  construction of the Vardanidzor road up to the tunnel exit (about 11  km) and reconstruction of the Agarak-Vardanidzor road (about 21 km)  within the framework of Tranche 4 of the North-South Road Corridor  Investment Program.

After reconstruction, this section of the road will comply with  advanced international standards, both in the context of road safety  and in terms of reducing travel time. In particular, this section  will have 5 new intersections, 6 overpasses, 2 new tunnels with a  total length of 920 m. and 17 new bridges.  The project is financed  with loans from the Eurasian Development Bank with co-financing from  the Republic of Armenia. Construction work will start at the end of  2023 and will last for 3 years.  The North-South project will reduce  the distance from the Iranian border to the Georgian border from 556  to 490 km. 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. Construction of the corridor was originally scheduled to be  completed in 2019. The cost of the project has constantly increased.   In September 2012, when the construction of the highway began, the  amount indicated by the representatives of the RA government was  several times less: 962 million dollars, while today we are talking  about investments of about 3 billion dollars.