Armenian government to provide budget loans to contractors of North-South highway
09.04.2020,
17:22
The government of Armenia will provide budget loans worth more than 2.2 billion drams to contractors of the North-South highway, Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Suren Papikyan said at a government meeting on Thursday.
YEREVAN, April 9. /ARKA/. The government of Armenia will provide budget loans worth more than 2.2 billion drams to contractors of the North-South highway, Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Suren Papikyan said at a government meeting on Thursday.
In late May 2019, employees of 17 construction companies blocked the Ujan-Ashtarak section of the North-South highway demanding that the Spanish company Corsan Corviam Construccion pay their salaries for more than a year.
Papikyan said the loan will be used to make all the payments stipulated by a contract agreement between the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Armenia and the Spanish company.
He said the company did not paid for services to dozens of firms and private entrepreneurs since the end of 2018. The budget loans will be provided for a period of 5 years at the rate of 0.01%, he added.
Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan added that this problem arose long ago, and a criminal case was initiated on this fact, which is in the process and is one of the largest criminal cases brought by the Armenia's law-enforcement authorities.
“I hope that the investigation will give concrete results and the damage done to the state and the public will be fully compensated,” Papikyan said.
Spanish construction firm Corsan Corviam Construccion was contracted by the former Armenian government in 2012 to build more than 90 kilometers of roads as part of a project to upgrade Armenia’s highways stretching to neighboring Georgia and Iran. The Asian Development Bank (ABA) had lent Armenia $500 million for the project.
The first two reconstructed highways connecting Yerevan to the towns of Ararat and Ashtarak were inaugurated in late 2015. The Spanish company was to rebuild the remaining 40-kilometer-long road within the next three years, but fell behind the schedule in 2016.
In 2019 Armenian law-enforcement authorities brought fraud and embezzlement charges against a top executive of the company. The Investigative Committee issued an arrest warrant for the “director” of the company, who it claimed had inflated the cost of road construction and pocketed $1.8 million.
The goal of Armenia's 556 km-long North-South Transport Corridor 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.
The transport corridor is to 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. -0-
In late May 2019, employees of 17 construction companies blocked the Ujan-Ashtarak section of the North-South highway demanding that the Spanish company Corsan Corviam Construccion pay their salaries for more than a year.
Papikyan said the loan will be used to make all the payments stipulated by a contract agreement between the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Armenia and the Spanish company.
He said the company did not paid for services to dozens of firms and private entrepreneurs since the end of 2018. The budget loans will be provided for a period of 5 years at the rate of 0.01%, he added.
Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan added that this problem arose long ago, and a criminal case was initiated on this fact, which is in the process and is one of the largest criminal cases brought by the Armenia's law-enforcement authorities.
“I hope that the investigation will give concrete results and the damage done to the state and the public will be fully compensated,” Papikyan said.
Spanish construction firm Corsan Corviam Construccion was contracted by the former Armenian government in 2012 to build more than 90 kilometers of roads as part of a project to upgrade Armenia’s highways stretching to neighboring Georgia and Iran. The Asian Development Bank (ABA) had lent Armenia $500 million for the project.
The first two reconstructed highways connecting Yerevan to the towns of Ararat and Ashtarak were inaugurated in late 2015. The Spanish company was to rebuild the remaining 40-kilometer-long road within the next three years, but fell behind the schedule in 2016.
In 2019 Armenian law-enforcement authorities brought fraud and embezzlement charges against a top executive of the company. The Investigative Committee issued an arrest warrant for the “director” of the company, who it claimed had inflated the cost of road construction and pocketed $1.8 million.
The goal of Armenia's 556 km-long North-South Transport Corridor 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.
The transport corridor is to 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. -0-
