The first phase of North-South highway n Armenia cold have been performed with a better timing, Mr David Dole, Country Director for Armenia at Asian Development Bank, told News.am at the hearings on the construction of the highway, held at the National Assembly of Armenia on Friday.

The contractor, Corsan Corviam, based in Spain, selected by the Ministry of Transport of Armenia by tender, is putting final touches on the first section of the road, to make it fully operational by the end of 2015. Nevertheless, the first tranche of the ADB loan to fund the construction has been disbursed as far back as in October 2009.

“The work should have been finished by now, so we are not satisfied, and neither is the Government.  We discussed our concerns about the quality of the construction, and we are monitoring it. We won’t be satisfied until the first section is done at the required level of quality”, Dole added.

The first, 31-km leg of the highway extends from Yerevan to 2 nearby towns, Ashtarak, to the north, and Artashat, to the south.

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.