On Friday, January 20, Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Gnel Sanosyan, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Armenia Abbas Badakhshan Zohouri, Governor of Syunik Robert Ghukasyan, and other officials of the sector discussed the details of the construction of the third Armenia-Iran high-voltage power line in Noravan settlement of Syunik.
The third high-voltage transmission line between Armenia and Iran, which started 17 years ago in 2006, still needs to be completed. Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures Hakob Vardanyan informed that the works began in 2015-2016. “Until February-March 2018 revisions, 1-2% of the actual work was done. The results started in full swing only in February-March 2018. During that time, due to the coronavirus pandemic and the war, there have been some slowdowns due to objective and subjective reasons, but I’m not trying to justify it; this is just the reality,” Hakob Vardanyan told reporters.
“The structure’s client is Armenia, and the Iranian Export Development Bank provided the loan; the contractor is the Iranian “Samir” organization. The latter’s financial situation was not very good at the time, there were also problems related to land acquisition and deforestation, but the Armenian government did everything to solve the issues”. – In his turn, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Armenia Abbas Badakhshan Zohouri reaffirmed the words of the Deputy Minister: the problems have been solved, and the works are going faster and with quality.
Read also
“Armenia is a significant neighboring and friendly country for us. Cooperation with Armenia in various directions is crucial for us. Fortunately, recently an agreement was reached between the two countries regarding the exchange of gas and electricity. Of course, to implement all that, conditions are needed to supply electricity from Armenia to Iran and gas from Iran to Armenia. The cooperation between Armenia, Iran, and Russia can be an example of tripartite cooperation in the region in different directions,” said Abbas Badakhshan Zohouri. The parties expressed hope that the structure would be commissioned by the end of the year.
In Noravan, after the construction of the third transmission line, the cross-flow capacity will increase to 1,200 megawatts per hour instead of the current 340 megawatts. According to the officials of the sector, if the electricity regimes are arranged in an ideal state, Armenia will have the opportunity to export up to 7-7.5 billion kWh of electricity annually, and on average, it will be possible to export up to 5.5-6 billion kWh. After discussing the works of the substation, Gnel Sanosyan offered the ambassador to familiarize himself with the construction of the Ltsen-Shamb and Tatev-Ltsen road sections, passing by the road under construction. The central part of the works has been completed, and the roads under construction will receive the status of a road of national significance.
Armen Badalyan, General Director of “AAB Projet” company, also joined the guests. Now the company is building the strategically important Ltsen-Shamb, Tatev-Ltsen, and Artsakh-Kornidzor roads. “Ltsen-Shamb road is about 6 km, Tatev-Ltsen – 20 km. In Shamb-Ltsen, 5 km out of 6 km is asphalted, and 1.2 km is in the preparation stage; we will asphalt it in the near future. And about 19 km out of 20 km of Tatev-Ltseni is paved; in other parts, gravel is installed, and it is passable for all vehicles. I am happy to note that many of our compatriots, who know that the road is adequate for almost all cars, have sometimes started to drive through this section”, Gnel Sanosyan said in a conversation with journalists.
Armen DAVTYAN
