Construction of North-South transport corridor planned to kick off in 2012 March
25.11.2011,
18:45
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.
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. -0-
"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. -0-
