The implementation of the North-South road corridor investment program within a reasonable and proper timeframe seems to be a bone stuck in the government’s throat, it cannot swallow, since problems with “digestion” will be inevitable, and removal from the throat will have traumatic consequences. It is a fact that the construction started in 2009, only 31 km has been built from the planned 556 km.
The Ministry of Transport, Communication and Information Technologies of Armenia has provided clarifications on the funds spent on this road corridor. In particular, according to the Ministry of Transport, Communication and Information Technologies of Armenia, the construction contract for the opened 31 km of Yerevan-Artashat and Yerevan-Ashtarak highways is 70.4 million US dollars. The average price of 1 km of Yerevan-Artashat and Yerevan-Ashtarak highways is about 2.35 million US dollars.
According to the Ministry, from the beginning of the road corridor construction till August 1, 2017 about 150.3 million US dollars and 23.14 million euro have been paid. Meanwhile, the total amount paid was presented as the payment for the 31 km road with concrete covers opened for operation in the media. This amount (150.3 million US dollars and 23.14 million euros) includes not only the already mentioned 70.4 million US dollars, but also the money paid for the concrete pavement works in Ashtarak-Talin and Talin-Gyumri highways (as of August 1, 2017, concrete pavement works were carried out on about 11 km road section), land works, archaeological excavations of artificial structures, as well as the still unpaid initial deposit.
The same amount includes the prepayment for construction works of Talin-Lanjik and Lanjik-Gyumri road sections, the amount of money paid for the works of 9 newly constructed and reconstructed overpasses and a bridge on the Yerevan-Artashat and Yerevan-Ashtarak highways through the “Tranche 3” loan agreement savings.
Silva Adamyan, head of the working group on monitoring organizations of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Armenia, recently announced, Since 2009, they have been following the course of the project and have come to the conclusion that the North-South program has no chances to be implemented. We sent a note to the Ministry of Transport, Communication and Information Technologies to clarify this statement by asking if the Armenian government is not able to implement the program.
In the response letter, the Ministry did not comment on Adamyan’s statement at all. It just mentioned that “the program is underway at a normal pace.”
