ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
August 25, 2004 Wednesday 12:48 PM Eastern Time
Tehran to grant loan to Armenia for gas pipeline construction
By Tigran Liloyan
METSAMOR /Armavir region in Armenia/, August 25 – Yerevan will
receive a loan from Tehran for building part of the Armenian stretch
of the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline, Armenian Energy Minister Armen
Movsesyan said here on Wednesday.
The 30-million dollars loan will be extended for 7.5 years, at a 5
percent interest, the minister said, saying these terms were
acceptable.
The money will be used for building a pipeline from Agarak to
Kadzharan in southeastern Armenia to connect the country’s gas
pipeline network to Iran’s.
Armenia will pay for Iranian gas with electricity it will produce,
Mosesyan said.
He said he was hoping that the construction of the gas pipeline will
begin as early as this year. The pipeline is expected to be
commissioned by January 2007.
The agreement on building the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline was signed in
Yerevan on May 13. The whole project is estimated to cost 220 million
dollars. This sum includes the 100-million-dollar Armenian part of
the pipeline.
Iran’s Oil and Gas Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said, Iran’s gas
supplies to Armenia will make up 36 billion cubic meters.
The construction of a gas pipeline from Iran has a very important
significance in the context of ensuring Armenia’s energy
independence, the republic’s President Robert Kocharyan said.
Despite certain reports, this pipeline is intended solely for meeting
the demand for energy on the domestic market, the president said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress