Expert: Armenia can’t rely only on Stepantsminda-Lars motorway for transporting its cargoes
02.09.2014,
16:46
Armenia can’t rely only on the Stepantsminda-Lars motorway for transporting its cargoes, Vazgen Safaryan, chairman of the Union of Domestic Commodity Producers, said at a news conference on Tuesday.
YEREVAN, September 2. /ARKA/. Armenia can’t rely only on the Stepantsminda-Lars motorway for transporting its cargoes, Vazgen Safaryan, chairman of the Union of Domestic Commodity Producers, said at a news conference on Tuesday.
The road section near Upper Lars border checkpoint was closed on August 20 because of landslides. On August 30, traffic on this section resumed.
“The latest landslide has affected trade turnover between Armenia and Russia,” Safaryan said. “It is still a good thing that traffic here has resumed quickly, but unfortunately, such problems occur periodically.”
Before that, Kazbegi-Upper Lars section on Georgian Military Road was blocked on May 17 and traffic here ceased for one month leaving Armenia without its ground transportation link with Russia.
Safaryan is convinced that construction of a tunnel may solve the problem. “The project of the tunnel construction is not new, but it was hampered by two world wars and the Soviet Union’s collapse,” he said.
The expert pointed out construction of a railway connecting Armenia with Russia through Iran and resumption of railway traffic through Abkhazia as other solutions to the problem.
It was reported earlier, that Abkhazia has no objections against this prospect, but the idea can be discussed only after recognition of Abkhazia’s independence. --0----
The road section near Upper Lars border checkpoint was closed on August 20 because of landslides. On August 30, traffic on this section resumed.
“The latest landslide has affected trade turnover between Armenia and Russia,” Safaryan said. “It is still a good thing that traffic here has resumed quickly, but unfortunately, such problems occur periodically.”
Before that, Kazbegi-Upper Lars section on Georgian Military Road was blocked on May 17 and traffic here ceased for one month leaving Armenia without its ground transportation link with Russia.
Safaryan is convinced that construction of a tunnel may solve the problem. “The project of the tunnel construction is not new, but it was hampered by two world wars and the Soviet Union’s collapse,” he said.
The expert pointed out construction of a railway connecting Armenia with Russia through Iran and resumption of railway traffic through Abkhazia as other solutions to the problem.
It was reported earlier, that Abkhazia has no objections against this prospect, but the idea can be discussed only after recognition of Abkhazia’s independence. --0----
