Many different evaluations have been carried out regarding the reconstruction projects of the RA-Azerbaijan-Turkey railway, but there is still no final evaluation. In a conversation with Aysor.am, the press spokesperson of the Minister of Economic and Social Affairs, Sona Harutyunyan said.
“Various studies have been conducted, various evaluations have been made, but a complete evaluation of the project has not been done yet. Moreover, in that period, on the basis of the studies carried out in 2021, those numbers were previously announced by both Finnach and the Minister of TCE, but they change from year to year, and there is no final clear estimate,” said Sona Harutyunyan.
Let’s remind that Sputnik Armenia wrote that the railway reconstruction projects from Armenia to Azerbaijan and Turkey have become “cheaper” dramatically in 2 years. Armenian Finance Minister Vahe Hovhannisyan said that the “Crossroads of Peace” project initiated by the Armenian government will cost about 400-500 million dollars.
Meanwhile, the restoration of three sections of the railway between December 2021 and February 2022, according to the estimates of the RA Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure, was much more expensive. The restoration of the border section of Hrazdan-Ijevan-Azerbaijan alone was estimated at 496 million dollars.
Aysor.am also inquired from the Ministry of Finance of RA about what explains such a difference in the financial calculation.
“Many different assessments have been carried out regarding the RA-Azerbaijan-Turkey railway restoration project, but the final calculations will be clear after the technical and economic study of the project,” said the Ministry of Finance.
It should be noted that Finance Minister Vahe Hovhannisyan, in addition to presenting figures, announced that he evaluated taking into account different scenarios.
“Everything is evaluated according to the segments, it depends on which way we will go, what scenarios will happen later. for example, I can say that the question is whether we should build a road from Nakhichevan to the western border of Azerbaijan, if so, then it has value. If we decide to solve the issue in the cheapest way, it will be the commissioning of the Kars-Gyumri railway, or the commissioning of the Kazakh-Berd road, these are cheaper options. If all the missing infrastructure and roads are built, its cost will be around 400-500 million dollars,” the minister said in a conversation with Civilnet.am, also noting that it depends on which countries will be interested in this route. He noted that unlike the 2021 estimates, there are better scenarios today, adding that when the time comes to talk about them, they will talk.