Minister: major repair of alternative Tatev-Aghavni road is over

YEREVAN, November 10. /ARKA/. Armenia’s Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Gnel Sanosyan told the ARKA news agency that the Tatev-Aghvani road, which is used as an alternative to the M2 highway (stretching from Yerevan to Meghri on the Iranian border) has been asphalted and is open to all, including Iranian truckers.
After the leaders of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan signed a statement on the cessation of all hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone on November 9, 2020, more than 190 settlements of Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent seven regions came under the control of Azerbaijan.
As a result, the borders of the Syunik region in the south of Armenia and the Gegharkunik region in the east appeared in close proximity to the Soviet-time border of Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijani forces have set up a police checkpoint on a section of the road between Goris and Kapan.
The checkpoint is on a section of a strategic road that connects Armenia with Iran. Armenian forces had pulled out of that road section after the end of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh last autumn. Now Azerbaijani forces control a 21-kilometer stretch of the highway. The other sections of the highway, which is Armenia’s sole transport link with Iran are patrolled by Russian soldiers and border guards.
The minister noted that the Tatev-Ltsen community road will haven asphalted next year. According to him, there is a lot of work in Syunik and construction companies are now actively working.
"We have many projects in Syunik, starting with asphalting a section of about 19 km on the Tatev-Ltsen road, which will significantly shorten the travel from Tatev to Sisian," he said.
Sanosyan stressed that an active construction stage is expected in Syunik. According to him, it is now difficult to summarize the financing of projects in one total amount, since these are different projects and the amount of work is quite large.
"Next year, we also plan to select a construction company to repair the Sisian-Kajaran section of the North-South road. Now we are at the stage of preparing a tender and we hope that next year the contractor will be known," he said.
The minister clarified that some of the projects will be financed through a loan and funds from the state budget will be allocated for the other part.
"On the other hand, constant work is underway when so-called "dark spots" are found on the roads, creating certain risks of accidents. The state budget envisages the elimination of such 27 spots throughout the country next year ," he said he.
Speaking about the situation on the Goris-Kapan road, Sanosyan said that it has not changed: the entire road is passable, there are two sections where the tripartite forces (Armenian, Russian and Azerbaijani) are located.
"Everything is calm for traffic , by and large there is no change in the situation," he said. -0-