Armenian government announces pre-qualification tender for construction of Sisian-Kajaran road
YEREVAN, February 17. /ARKA/. The government of Armenia has announced today the launch of the pre-qualification tender for the construction of the Sisian-Kajaran road, which is part of the North-South transport corridor.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said the project, which will be the most expensive since the independence of the country, has ‘unprecedented strategic importance.’
According to earlier estimates, the construction of the Sisian-Kajaran road with its auxiliary infrastructure will cost 487 billion drams (over $1 billion).
Pashinyan said at a government meeting today that the pre-qualification tender for accepting bids will last for 70 days.
‘We should do our best to choose a building contractor by the end of 2022 and get down to the practical implementation of the project," he said.
According to Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Gnel Sanosyan, vehicles will be able to travel along the new 60 km long road with design speed of 100 km/h, up from the current speed of 50 km. The contractors will build also bridges with a total length of 4.7 km and tunnels with a total length of 12.5 km, the longest of which is 8.6 km.
According to the government, as a result the travel distance between Sisian and Kajaran will be cut by approximately 58 km and the travel time will be reduced by about 1.5-2 hours. The project duration is 6 years.
"This is a large-scale project and we hope to attract the attention of major international companies and choose a construction contractor by the end of the year," Sanosyan said.
The goal of 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 will stretch from the southern Armenian town of Meghri, on the border with Iran, to Bavra in the north on the border with Georgia. Armenia has attracted so far $550 million loans for the corridor, of which $200 million have been already utilized.-0-
