Armenia to get 51 million euros from EIB for rehabilitation of Vanadzor-Bagratashen road
The Armenian parliament ratified today an agreement the government had signed earlier this year with the European Investment Bank (EIB) whereby the latter will provide a 51 million euro loan for major rehabilitation of a motor way stretching from Armenia's third largest town of Vanadzor to Bagratashen near the border with Georgia.
According to Deputy Minister of Transport and Communication of Armenia Arthur Arakelyan, the project was prepared by the EIB in 2014. The feasibility study and environment and social impact assessment and the detailed design were completed in 2015. The total project investment cost based on the feasibility study and detail design is about $102 million, and will be shared by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), EIB, and the government of Armenia. The project is divided into two subsections with approximate equal cost of $40 million (excluding VAT) for each subsection. As agreed, EIB will parallel cofinance the section 1 and ADB will finance the section 2.
Arthur Arakelyan noted that the rehabilitation is scheduled to begin this year and be completed within 2-2.5 years. The deputy minister added that the project is in line with the government's strategy to develop a sustainable and high quality road infrastructure linking Armenia to Georgia.
The project starts from the Vanadzor, the third largest city in Armenia located 130 km north of Yerevan, and ends to the town of Bagratashen in the border with Georgia with a total length of 90 km. Between Vanadzor and Alaverdi (about 44 km), the road goes through a mountainous section with several hairpin bends, steep inclines, narrow bridges, and three old tunnels, which will need to be upgraded. The road is vulnerable to nature disasters such as floods, snowing, landslides, and falling rocks, which adversely affect the service level of the road, and bring a huge potential road safety risk to road users. The project will shorten the travel time for both passengers and freight between Armenia and Georgia, reduce the transportation cost, and eliminate road safety hazards. -0-