ArmInfo. The commissioning of the Yeraskh-Julfa-Ordubad-Meghri-Horadiz railway section will significantly increase the investment attractiveness of Armenia. Chairman of the "Republic" party, former Prime Minister of Armenia Aram Sargsyan expressed a similar opinion to ArmInfo.
On December 16, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan confirmed the agreement reached at the meetings with the President of Azerbaijan in Sochi and Brussels on the construction of the Yeraskh-Julfa-Ordubad-Meghri-Horadiz railway section. In this regard, he instructed to begin preparations for construction on its Armenian section. According to him, Armenia and Azerbaijan plan to complete the construction within 2-3 years.
"It is clear that this section on the territory of Armenia needs to be restored from scratch, since the rails and sleepers were dismantled in the 2000s and sold to Iran. In a short period of my premiership, I opposed such a "business", banning the sale, after which I faced serious discontent with then President Robert Kocharian, "he said.
In any case, according to Sargsyan, the project is quite interesting not only for the direct participants, but also for potential investors, which, in his opinion, is a guarantee of significant investments in the Armenian economy in the future. According to Sargsyan's estimates, as a rule, any territory on which railways operate always arouses the interest of investors. And foreign investors will invest in Armenia if only because this infrastructure will connect the 80 million markets of Turkey and Iran.
According to preliminary calculations of the RA Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures, the restoration of the Yeraskh-Julfa-Ordubad-Meghri-Horadiz railway in Armenia will cost more than $ 226 million. $ 221 million is needed to restore the 45-kilometer section in Meghri, another $ 5 million for restoration kilometer section in Yeraskh.