YEREVAN — The North-South project has been redesigned and turned into a North-South, East-West project, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the government sitting on Thursday.
“This actually means that one of the branches of that road – the North-South, East-West, or the Armenian crossroads – will link the north to the south, i.e. Armenia to Iran. The other branch will stretch from Azerbaijan to Armenia and later to Nakhijevan and Turkey,” the Prime Minister noted.
The government took the first step towards attracting potential contractors for the multimillion-dollar construction of a the new highway in Armenia’s southeastern Syunik province bordering Iran.
The 60-kilometer highway is to connect the provincial towns of Sisian and Kajaran. It will significantly shorten travel time between Armenia and Iran and bypass Armenian-Azerbaijani border areas.
The bypass road will presumably overlap the Sisian-Kajaran highway. According to Minister for Territorial Administration and Infrastructures Gnel Sanosian, the mountainous highway will include as many as 27 bridges and five tunnels with a combined length of 12 kilometers.
Pashinyan voiced hope that by the end of the year there will be specific construction companies to carry out the work. “Of course, the East-West project part has not been done, but in the context of political agreements, we will implement that part very quickly.” Pashinyan said.
