Armenia plans to secure $1.3 billion for the southern section of the  North-South construction`s program.

ArmInfo. Armenia intends to attract $1.3 billion in loans for the construction of the southern section of the North-South road corridor investment program alone. This was stated by Kristine Galechyan, the Deputy Minister of  Territorial Administration and Infrastructure of the Republic of Armenia on November 6.

She was submitting a $200 million loan  agreement with the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) for the  construction of the Kajaran tunnel for approval by the National  Assembly.  As stated by the Deputy Minister, the total amount of  borrowed funds raised under the program to date is $503 million, with  approximately $170 million yet to be utilized. These funds will be  allocated for the construction of the Agarak and Kajaran sections.  A  loan agreement worth 236 million euros, intended to finance the work  on the Sisian-Agarak section, will soon be submitted to parliament  for approval.

The Cabinet of Ministers approved a proposal to sign a $200 million  loan agreement with the Eurasian Fund for Stabilization and  Development (EFSD) to finance the Kajaran Tunnel Construction project  within the North-South program on July 25 of the current year.  The  program aims to enhance the transit potential and decrease accidents  along the North-South road corridor. The tunnel, spanning 7 km, is   planned to be built within 6 years. Additionally, there are plans to  renovate the access roads to the tunnel, totaling 4 km of length. The  total cost of the project is estimated to be $370 million. The loan  is provided at an annual rate of 4% with a repayment period of 20  years. Let us remind you that the new 60-kilometer Sisian-Kajaran  road will be classified as the second technical category road. It  will pass through a challenging mountainous terrain, including 27  bridges with a total length of 4.7 km and 9 tunnels with a total  length of 12.5 km (the longest tunnel, the Bargushat tunnel, is about  8.6 km long). The pre-qualification stage of the international tender  for this project has been completed, with applications submitted by  23 companies from Europe, China and other countries.

Out of the total financial assistance package from the EU to Armenia  of 2.6 billion euros, 600 million euros will be allocated for the  construction of the Kajaran-Sisian road over the next five years. The  60 km section of the road will be designed for a speed of 80 km/h.   Today, the relevant committee of the parliament also approved a loan  from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for  Armenia totaling 10 million euros (with an expected grant of 2  million euros) for the construction of the Foreign Economic Activity  (FEA) Center - a logistics and customs terminal in the city of Sisian  in the Syunik region. The Armenian government will co-finance 20% of  the total amount. The corresponding agreement was signed on May 14  between Armenian Finance Minister Vahe Hovhannisyan and EBRD Vice  President Matteo Patrone in Yerevan. 

The center is planned to be built as part of the Crossroads of Peace  project near the village of Shaki, on a 7.7-hectare plot of land, 7  km from Sisian, next to the future new section of the North-South  highway. An administrative building is also planned  to be  constructed as part of the project. The center will be equipped with  laboratory equipment, X-ray machines for inspecting passenger  transport, hand luggage and small cargo, for scanning people, UHF  radio stations, a data processing center, document readers, and  document authentication devices. There will be five lanes and a pair  of scales of 100 tons each in both the entry and exit directions.  With the launch of the center, electronic control systems and digital  solutions, it will be possible to fully implement the   concept. This will allow for almost the entire process of obtaining  the necessary permits and customs clearance of goods to be carried  out through a single electronic application, following the principle.

As stated by Deputy Chairman of the State Revenue Committee Ashot  Muradyan, in 2022, 373,000 tons of cargo were declared at the  Southern Customs Department of the State Revenue Committee, and in  2023 - 569 thousand tons. The number of declarations in 2022 was  8,100, and in 2023 - 14,300. In 2022, 17.6 thousand cars were  transported through this department, and in 2023that number grew to  29.900 cars.   is one of the largest projects in the  history of independent Armenia. This road will reduce the distance  from the Iranian border to the Georgian border from 556 to 490  kilometers, significantly facilitating access to the Black Sea not  only for Armenia, but also for Iran.

Earlier, ArmInfo reported, citing MTUI,  that the work on the  construction of a 7 km long tunnel  and reconstruction of a  4-kilometer section of the existing M-2 road from Yerevan to  Yeraskh,,Goris,,Meghri and the Iranian border is planned to begin  only in 2025.  In general, the investment program for the road  corridor "North-South", initially planned to be completed within 4-5  years (the start was given on September 13, 2012), has only been 10%  implemented  with less than $ 1 billion spent. By the end of May  2024, the amount of attracted loans amounted to $ 800.7 million.  As  part of the project, borrowed funds from the EDB (EFSD), according to  the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Armenia, reached $ 150  million. (Tranche 4, section of the Artashat-Agarak road).