Premier: Under the new government of Armenia roads of dubious quality should not be built

ArmInfo. Under the new  government of Armenia, roads of dubious quality should not be built.   Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated at the meeting dedicated to the  issues and problems of the construction of the highway "North-South".

According to him, it is necessary to understand what has been done so  far in the context of the project, what is the situation, what are  the problems, how does the government imagine the continuation of the  project in terms of financing and implementation. The Premier stated  that the North-South project is the largest project in the history of  the third republic, especially in terms of the financial burden and the growth of public debt. "Unfortunately, from the very beginning of the project we hear more about the problems than about their solutions, and our task is to understand the reasons for this situation and find solutions." I also talked with representatives of law enforcement bodies of Armenia and I think that they should also be interested in this situation. In the media, including official bodies, information comes in which gives cause for concern and concern. We need to understand how much these concerns are relevant, can this concern have civil-legal  or criminal-law consequences, "the prime minister said, quoting the press service of the government.

According to the source, the project managers reported to the head of  the government on the problems that arose on the already commissioned  sections of the road, identified shortcomings, compensation for  damages, activities of contractor organizations, ongoing construction  work. They also touched upon the continuation of the project and the  possibilities for carrying out construction work on different sites.

Prime Minister Pashinyan gave specific instructions to the  responsible persons and noted the importance of excluding problems  related to the quality of work during the further implementation of  the project. "High quality of road construction should be  guaranteed," the Armenian government head said.

On the segment of the transport corridor "North-South" -  Yerevan-Artashat, which was put into operation at the end of 2015, at  the beginning of this year pits were formed, and in some areas -  cracks. The contract for maintenance with the construction company of  the Spanish "Corsan Corviam", responsible for the 1st and 2nd  tranches of the investment program, has not been completed, and the  Ministry of Transport demanded the restoration of these road  sections. The Spanish company in road construction in Armenia "became  famous" for a long time. It was "Corsan Corviam" in the summer of  2016, former Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan called the real evil for  the North-South motorway. Abrahamyan stated about the financial  problems of the Spanish company and that the Ararat road is still "in  the problems and made poor".

The situation is not even better on the stretch of the road  Talin-Lanjik, which is being built by the Chinese company Sinohydro  Corporation. According to Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan, there  are corruption risks in the company's actions, which must be paid  special attention in the research process. Meanwhile, the Chinese  company carrying out construction work on the road section of the  Talin-Lanjik road under its own responsibility, without testing the  quality of the performed work, made concreting the canvas 1200 meters  long, while for testing it was necessary to concrete 300 meters. In  this connection, at the request of the Ministry of Transport of the  RA, the work was suspended until the results of the laboratory  examination were obtained. If the results of the examination do not  meet the established standards, the Chinese company must dismantle  the road and again begin pouring the concrete. Violations are also  recorded during earthworks.

And from a financial point of view, the project was expensive. In  2018, $ 47 million will be allocated for the continuation of the  program for the construction of the North-South transport corridor.   The funds will be attracted in the form of loans from the Asian  Development Bank, the European Investment Bank and the Eurasian  Development Bank, another 2.8 billion drams will be received in the  form of a grant from the European Investment Bank. The main front of  the work this year was developed at 84 km of the highway, which  provides for laying concrete for 40-45 km. The works, in particular,  will be carried out on the road section from the cities of Ashtarak  to Gyumri. As a result, the road from 2 lanes will expand to 4, and  instead of asphalt will be laid concrete. According to current  calculations, the construction of the entire 556-kilometer  Norrth-South highway stretching from Bavra to Meghri will cost more  rrthan $ 2 billion, since only its southern section between the  cities of Artashat and Meghri, according to preliminary estimates,  will cost $ 1.5 billion. Meanwhile, five years ago, in September  2012, when the construction of the highway began, the amount that was  called by representatives of the Armenian government was more than  half that of $ 962 million. Today, $ 150.3 million and 23.14 million  euros . At the moment, only a 31 km section has been built and  modernized, for which $ 70 million was spent.

The remaining amount was spent on excavation work on the  Ashtarak-Talin and Talin-Gyumri sections. Also, work was carried out  on concreting the road 11 km. The construction of the corridor was  originally planned to be completed in 2019. Already today it is  officially announced that the terms are postponed for more than 2  years.

Under the "North-South" program, the Armenian government calculated  the preliminary savings of $ 2.5 per hour for each passenger and $ 1  per hour for transporting a ton of cargo. As the authorities of  Armenia expect, the program will allow the country in the future to  mitigate the consequences of the blockade by Azerbaijan and Turkey,  to play the role of a transit state in the freight transportation of  the countries of the region, and also to join the Black Sea ring  highway.