ArmInfo. The authorities, who lack knowledge of mathematics, confidently discuss the potential billions of dollars in revenue that the road passing through Armenia's Syunik region. Mesrop Arakelyan, co-founder of the "Country to Live" party, wrote this on his Facebook page.
"Let's figure out the potential income Armenia can receive as a transit country. Currently, the gas pipeline, oil pipeline and railway passing through Azerbaijan to Turkey all go through Georgia, which earns income from these routes. Georgia receives about 60 million dollars in income from the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, which carries about 80% of Azerbaijani oil. Georgia receives a 5% transit fee from the Baku- Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline, which carries almost the entire volume of Azerbaijani gas exports. In monetary terms, this amounts to about 200 million dollars. The Georgian Railway also profits round 20 million dollars from transit cargo transportation. As a result, Georgia receives about 280 million dollars in income," the politician noted.
Speaking about Armenia's income, he pointed out the obvious fact that the same volume of oil and gas cannot pass through Armenia, as almost all of Azerbaijan's exports already pass through Georgia. Moreover, this is economically unprofitable. It is not feasible to have two transit routes to the same destination - Turkey and Europe. "In any case, let's assume that 25-30% of Azerbaijani gas and oil exports will pass through Armenia, for which Armenia will receive about $70 million. In the railway is used, Armenia may be in a more advantageous position and assume that the entire volume passing through Georgia will pass through Armenia. As a result, Armenia will receive about $90 million in revenue, with it's half going to the United States, and the other half remaining in Armenia. These $45 million would account for 0.6% of budget revenues, which will be enough to increase pensions by 3,000 drams," Mesrop Arakelyan wrote.
