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CONSTRUCTION OF NORTH-SOUTH TRANSPORT CORRIDOR PLANNED TO KICK OFF IN 2012 MARCH
/ARKA/
November 25, 2011
YERVAN
YEREVAN, November 25. /ARKA/. The launch of the construction
of North-South transport corridor is planned to kick off in the
second half of March in 2012, Armenian Minister of Transport and
Communications, Manuk Vardanyan, said Thursday.
"A formal agreement to begin the construction will be made in the
second half of December or in January next year after receiving the
relevant financial guarantees from the Asian Development Bank. We
expect to begin work in late March, but it will largely depend also
on the weather," he said during opening packages with technical
proposals of bidding companies seeking to become the consultant of
the investment program.
Four packages of technical and financial proposals have been submitted
by a joint venture Safege (Belgium) and Eptisa (Spain), a consortium
of three companies - two English (Roughton International and WYG
International) and the Armenian construction company Channahagits,
a joint venture Renardet Ingenieurs Conseils SA (Switzerland) and
Bonifica Italia S.r.l. (Italy), as well as Korea's Sambo Engineering
Co.
"The evaluation of technical proposals will be completed on December
20-22, and then we will open the financial proposals and summarize
the results and determine the winners who will have to be approved
also by the government and Asian Development Bank," said the minister.
Armenia Ministry of Transport and Communications announced August 2
an international tender for selection of a contractor to build the
first and second sections of North-South corridor.
The Armenian government approved January 14, 2010 the investment
program to build the North-South transport corridor, as well as a $500
million framework loan agreement with the Asian Development Bank. The
first tranche of the ADB loan in the amount of $70 million is planned
to be spent on the reconstruction of the sections of roads between
Yerevan and Ararat and Yerevan and Ashtarak.
The second tranche worth $210 million will be used to reconstruct a
stretch between Ashtarak and Talin. The goal of the project is to
upgrade Armenia's main corridor road 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. According to Armenian
prime minister Tigran Sargsyan, the cost of building the transport
corridor is estimated at $1.5 billion.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
/ARKA/
November 25, 2011
YERVAN
YEREVAN, November 25. /ARKA/. The launch of the construction
of North-South transport corridor is planned to kick off in the
second half of March in 2012, Armenian Minister of Transport and
Communications, Manuk Vardanyan, said Thursday.
"A formal agreement to begin the construction will be made in the
second half of December or in January next year after receiving the
relevant financial guarantees from the Asian Development Bank. We
expect to begin work in late March, but it will largely depend also
on the weather," he said during opening packages with technical
proposals of bidding companies seeking to become the consultant of
the investment program.
Four packages of technical and financial proposals have been submitted
by a joint venture Safege (Belgium) and Eptisa (Spain), a consortium
of three companies - two English (Roughton International and WYG
International) and the Armenian construction company Channahagits,
a joint venture Renardet Ingenieurs Conseils SA (Switzerland) and
Bonifica Italia S.r.l. (Italy), as well as Korea's Sambo Engineering
Co.
"The evaluation of technical proposals will be completed on December
20-22, and then we will open the financial proposals and summarize
the results and determine the winners who will have to be approved
also by the government and Asian Development Bank," said the minister.
Armenia Ministry of Transport and Communications announced August 2
an international tender for selection of a contractor to build the
first and second sections of North-South corridor.
The Armenian government approved January 14, 2010 the investment
program to build the North-South transport corridor, as well as a $500
million framework loan agreement with the Asian Development Bank. The
first tranche of the ADB loan in the amount of $70 million is planned
to be spent on the reconstruction of the sections of roads between
Yerevan and Ararat and Yerevan and Ashtarak.
The second tranche worth $210 million will be used to reconstruct a
stretch between Ashtarak and Talin. The goal of the project is to
upgrade Armenia's main corridor road 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. According to Armenian
prime minister Tigran Sargsyan, the cost of building the transport
corridor is estimated at $1.5 billion.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress