North-South Highway/Iran-Armenia Railway

[Mher]

Re: North-South Highway/Iran-Armenia Railway

Armenia to Get $100M From Regional Fund for North-South Highway

YEREVAN, September 4 (RIA Novosti) – Armenia will get $100 million from a Eurasian Economic Community anti-crisis fund, a Eurasian Development Bank official said Wednesday.

The 556-km corridor, designed to improve transport links between Europe, the Caucasus and Asia, in particular between Eastern Europe and western Asia, is to be completed by 2017.

In January 2010, the Armenian government approved an investment program for the North-South transport corridor, and a framework finance agreement between Armenia and the Asian Development Bank worth a total of $500 million.

Wednesday’s decision came after discussions between the Eurasian Development Bank’s Deputy President Sergei Shatalov and Armenia’s Transport and Communications Minister Gagik Belaryan, the ministry’s press service told RIA Novosti.

http://en.ria.ru/world/20130904/183162143.html

EIB to provide Armenia with $90 million loan to finance construction of North-South highway

18.02.2013 16:32
EIB to provide Armenia with $90 million loan to finance construction of North-South highway

YEREVAN, September 15. / ARKA /. The European Investment Bank (EIB) is set to provide Armenia with a $90 million loan to finance the construction of the North-South highway, Ara Hovsepian, head of a government non-commercial organization set up to handle the project, told ARKA.

In 2010 January the Armenian government signed a $500-million financial agreement with Asian Development Bank to fund the construction of the highway. Hovsepian said the release of the EIB loan will be considered at its meeting in early March.

According to him, the loan will be used to finance the construction of a 45-kilometer road from Talin to Gyumri. The first tranche of the ADB in the amount of $70.4 million is being used to reconstruct parts of Yerevan-Ararat (38 km) and Yerevan-Ashtarak (12 km) roads. The second tranche in the amount of $179.6 million will be used to reconstruct a section of the highway from Ashtarak to Talin. The work will be completed in June 2017. The project was launched in September 2012.

The Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has also expressed willingness to provide $50-70 million for the construction of the highway.

The goal of the project is to upgrade Armenia’s main corridor road (556 km long) as part of a broader thrust to improve connectivity, and boost trade, growth and livelihood opportunities in the Caucasus and Central Asia sub-regions. Funds will be released by the Asian Development Bank periodically through a multitranche financing facility. The transport corridor will stretch from the southern Armenian town of Meghri, on the border with Iran, to Bavra in the north on the border with Georgia. The North-South transport corridor will enable Armenia to mitigate the effects of the blockade imposed by Azerbaijan and Turkey. -0-

See more at: http://www.armbanks.am/en/2013/02/18....xxnxma2s.dpuf



Armenia starts North-South Highway construction
13 September 2012 - 2:39pm

Armenia is startingthe construction of the North-South Highway financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) today, News Georgia reports.

Armenian Minister for Transportation and Communication Gagik Beglaryan met Ramon Aige of the Corsan Corvian Construccion (Spain), representing the contractor of construction, on Tuesday.

The highway will be 556 km long giving access to the Black Sea and European states using the Megri-Kapan-Goris-Yerevan-Ashtarak-Gyumri-Bavra route and Georgia.

Armenia approved the tender for construction on April 26, RIA Novosti reports.

The investment program worth $500 million was approved by the Armenian government on January 14, 2010. The North-South Corridor program is worth $1 billion. The Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) wants to pay $50-70 million for its realization while Armenia will co-finance $462 million.

The Europe-Caucasus-Asia connection on the crossing of Eastern Europe and Western Asia will be completed in 2017.

Realization of the program will save $2.5 per hour for each passenger and $1 per hour for a ton of cargo.

The North-South Corridor was initiated by Russia and Iran. The Russia-Iran-India route will be improved.

http://vestnikkavkaza.net/news/economy/31361.html

[Mher]

Re: North-South Highway/Iran-Armenia Railway

Construction Begins on Armenia’s North-South Highway
September 13th, 2012

YEREVAN (RFE/RL)—A Spanish construction company launched on Thursday the first phase of a multimillion-dollar government project to upgrade Armenia’s main highways stretching more than 550 kilometers to neighboring Georgia and Iran.

The Madrid-based group Isolux Corsan inaugurated the start of work on a 53-kilometer highway connecting Yerevan to the southern town of Ararat in the presence of its senior executives and Armenian government officials.

Corsan signed last April a $280 million contract with the Armenian Ministry of Transport and Communications to rebuild and expand this and another road running northwest of Yerevan. The total length of the two roads exceeds 90 kilometers. They are due to be refurbished before 2016.

The construction will be financed from a $500 million loanwhich the Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) allocated to Armenia in 2009. The ADB loan is designed to support the implementation of the so-called North-South Project envisaging the reconstruction of the highways stretching from the Armenian-Iranian border to one of the three Armenian-Georgian border crossings.

The Armenian government says the planned upgrades will facilitate access to the Georgian and Iranian ports. Another aim of the ambitious project worth at least $1 billion is to enable Iran to use Armenian and Georgian territory for large-scale freight shipments to and from Europe.

“This will give us greater economic opportunities,” Transport and Communications Minister Gagik Beglarian told journalists at the ceremony. “The fact that we are going to have a fast transit motorway will also solve a very important national issue for Armenia.”

Beglarian said the road works will also translate into 1,000 new jobs. Daniel Domingo, a senior Corsan executive, said some of the company’s local staff will undergo special training. “We will hold special courses to bring their skills into conformity with European standards,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.

The government has yet to indicate external sources of funding for the rest of what would be the single largest road project in Armenia’s history. Its implementation was originally due to start in 2010.

http://asbarez.com/105396/construction-begins-on-armenia%E2%80%99s-north-south-highway/

[Mher]

Re: North-South Highway/Iran-Armenia Railway

North-South highway’s construction in Armenia to take 6-7 years

EREVAN, May 3. 2012 /ARKA/.

The construction of the North-South highway in Armenia may take 6-7 years, Armenia’s Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said in the interview with Shant TV channel.

The total cost of the North-South highway construction is estimated $1.5 billion, he said. The Prime Minister reminded that Armenia and Asian Development Bank had already signed 500-million-dollar financial agreement.

“It will be an absolutely new road the analogies of which have been never built in Armenia before. It will be constructed gradually.. Possibly, the construction will take 6-7 years,” Sargsyan said.

On April 26 during the Cabinet session the government approved the results of an open international tender for choosing a company to handle the implementation of the first and second phases of the project. The tender was won by Spanish Corsan Corvian Construccion Company. A joint venture Safege (Belgium) and Eptisa (Spain) was chosen as a contractor.

In the first phases of the project known as South-North Tansport Corridor three sections of roads will be reconstructed- Yerevan-Ashtarak (11.7 km), [B]Ararat -Yerevan (38 km)[see below] and Ashtarak-Talin (42 km). The project is funded by Armenia’s government and Asian Development Bank.

On January 14, 2010, Armenian government approved the program of North-South highway construction as well as the $500-million agreement signed between Armenia and Asian Development Bank. The credit agreement on the first $70-million tranche was signed on October 12, 2009, and the second $210 million tranche- on May 30 2011.

Railway North-South will allow the Armenian side to use the alternative route of transportation of energy resources and other goods, obtaining access to outside world. Currently, railway communications between Armenia and foreign countries is provided only through the territory of Georgia.

The project, initiated by Russia and Iran, implies expanding transport flows also by constructing new transport communication through Russia-Iran-India route .

Armenia and Iran are also considering construction of the railway between the two countries, which will become a part of North-South transport corridor. -0-

http://arka.am/en/news/economy/north_south_highway_s_construction_in_armenia_to_take_6_7_years/#sthash.5VkHhsBP.dpuf

[Mher]

Seeing how these two projects are very crucial to the future of the Armenian economy and the overall existence of the Armenian State, I thought it would be a good idea to have a separate thread to discuss their development, specially seeing how both projects are still in a dynamic stage where many factors continue to change.