“Today, the Armenian railway concessionaire first of all prevents the construction of the Iran-Armenia railway”, such opinion was expressed by economist Ashot Yeghiazaryan in the conversation with Aravot.am, commenting on the Government’s yesterday’s decision pertaining to the Southern Railway. Minister of Transport and Communications Gagik Beglaryan reported the Prime Minister at the Government session that the terms for accepting respective legal acts on making amendments in the Concession Agreement and the list of Action Plans required for the construction of Southern Railway (Iran-Armenia) of Armenia is delayed for two months. Gagik Beglaryan had associated the delay of the railway construction by having a negative posture on some matters by the concessionaire.
To our question that some politicians are convinced that the Iran-Armenia railroad will never be built and actually, the construction of the railway is a “myth”, Ashot Yeghiazaryan assured that it is a non-profitable project for the “South Caucasus Railway”, which is the operator of the Armenian railway. “It is a non-profitable project not only financially, but also requires huge investments, which requires long years of compensation. In addition, Russia’s today’s concessionaire is not competitive and it is unable to provide competitive railway services.” According to him, no new concessionaire can emerge under these conditions, as railway transport and energy are very important geo-economic infrastructures, with the help of which Russia is able to keep the post-Soviet countries to be dependent. The economist believes that the way to Iran definitely is not beneficial for Russia geo-economically and geopolitically, because Armenia having alternative routes would mean lessening the dependence.
Lusine BUDAGHYAN
