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.
