YEREVAN. – The Armenian parliament started debates on considering a credit agreement from the Eurasian Development Bank for renovation of Agarak-Kajaran highway.

The draft agreement was presented by Deputy Transport Minister Artur Arakelyan.

The section of 20.5 km from the border with Iran to Kajaran copper-molybdenum deposit should be a part of North-South Road Corridor from the Iranian to the Georgian border. The total amount of credit is $150 million with the rate of 1.65% per annum.

The whole North-South highway is intended to be 495 km, upgrading the linkage to Georgia and Iran. The road will cut border-to-border distance by almost 60 km, due to construction of new bridges and tunnels instead of existing mountainous routes.

The estimated cost of the project is $967 mln, of which ADB’s commitment is $500 mln.