YEREVAN. - Prime Minister of Armenia Karen Karapetyan on Friday chaired the subsequent session of the North-South Road Corridor and Sustainable Urban Development Investment Programs Governing Council, the press-service of the Armenian Government informed Armenian News – NEWS.am.

Three options of the byroad round the city of Gyumri and farther to the Bavra settlement on the border with Georgia were discussed.

The projects of the new motorway from Sisian to Kajaran in southern Armenia were discussed as well. This 60 km road will significantly reduce the passage through the mountainous south of Armenia.  

The 4-lane North-South motorway will reduce the time for passing from the Iranian border to the Georgian one, as well as the distance from 556 to 495 km at the expense of erecting the mountainous sections and constructing new and more direct ones (from Ararat via Vayots Dzor province down to Noravan village near Sisian, and from there all the way to Kajaran town).

The overall cost of construction will be $960 million, the Asian Development Bank being its main creditor (approx. $500 mln). It was initially planned to build an entirely concrete motorway but in late April Transport Minister Gagik Beglaryan stated that in some sections asphalt will be laid instead of concrete.