Kerobyan: resumption of railway from Armenian Yeraskh to Horadiz in Azerbaijan may cost $1.2 billion

YEREVAN, December 16. /ARKA/. The resumption of a railway from Armenian Yeraskh to Horadiz in Azerbaijan may cost as much as $1.2 billion, Armenian Economy Minister Vahan Kerobyan told  a press briefing today.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told a government meeting earlier today that during a December 15 meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Brussels, the sides reconfirmed their earlier reached agreement on the construction of the Yeraskh-Julfa-Ordubad-Meghri-Horadiz railroad.

Yeraskh is a settlement in Ararat region of Armenia, bordering Azerbaijan’s exclave Nakhichevan, Meghri is a town in Syunik (south of Armenia, bordering with Iran and Azerbaijan). Julfa and Ordubad are in Nakhichevan, while Horadiz is in Azerbaijan proper.
Asked how much the construction of the Armenian section of the railway would cost, Kerobyan said the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure has the concrete answer.

"To the best of my knowledge, a very small amount is needed for  repair of the several-hundred meter long section that would connect Yeraskh with Iranian railways. But the construction of the  section through Meghri will need much larger amount as the railroad that  passed through it during the Soviet time was completely dismantled," he said.  According to Kerobyan, the cost of building that section may require about $200 million. 

"A bigger investment will be required for the construction of the section from Meghri to Horadiz, about $ 1 billion," he said.

Pashinyan told the government session today that the railroad will operate in compliance with internationally adopted border and customs regulations,  the principle of reciprocity and under  the sovereignty and jurisdiction of the countries. He noted that Armenia will get access to Iran and Russia through this railroad, and Azerbaijan will have a railway connection to Nakhichevan exclave. -0-