168: Well forgotten old. Why are they being delayed for years? They are strategic with Iran

After the visit of Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Davit Khudatyan to Iran, the impression was created that Armenia and Iran are starting a new phase of cooperation with new projects. But in fact, all the programs that are being talked about existed a long time ago. Their foundations were laid by the previous authorities, which, however, have been successfully failed or frozen by the current authorities in recent years.

It is not just about the construction of the third high-voltage line, which should have been ready long ago, but is still under construction. Even now they hope that the line will be ready at the end of this year. Although there are still no hopes that this period will be preserved. More than once, they announced the deadline for the construction of the line, but these announcements were left hanging in the air.

Let’s remind that the construction of the third high-voltage line, which was started by the previous authorities, was planned to be completed in 2020. last. Already the year 2026 is coming to an end, but it is still being built.

The importance of the construction of this line has been discussed many times. This should give an opportunity to double the volumes of gas for electricity exchange between Armenia and Iran.

The program has been operating since 2009, but due to infrastructure capacity issues, it is not fully operational. That is why it was planned to build the third line, which should significantly increase the efficiency of the project. However, the construction of the line was delayed so much that the contractual terms of the gas-for-electricity supply project almost ended.

Last year, it was extended for a few more years, but the portions of previously approved exchanges were also changed. It changed to the detriment of Armenia. Now, from the implementation of that project, Armenia has far less gas than it did at the beginning of the project.

It is expected that it may change again in the near future. Although without it, the volume of gas that remains with Armenia today as a result of the transaction, will remain even after the construction of the third power transmission line and the increase of exchanges, it will not be a tangible volume in the structure of domestic consumption. It is pointless to have high hopes for it.

In the same way, it is pointless to hope for the direct purchase of real gas. Theoretically, Iranian gas can be an alternative for Armenia, but its price will be twice or three times higher, which does not fit into the solvency of Armenia’s economy and consumers. It is not surprising that the authorities of Armenia do not consider real gas as an alternative to Russian gas.

The best that can be is an expansion of electricity supply in exchange for gas, which can provide tens of millions of cubic meters of additional gas for Armenian consumers, nothing else.

As for the transit of Iranian gas through Armenia, the necessary infrastructure does not exist at the moment, nor will it exist in the near future.

Six years ago, the third Iran-Armenia high-voltage line was supposed to be operational, but it is still not operational today. Not only that, but also the other plans planned with Iran, the foundations of which were laid in the time of the former, have failed.

One of such projects was the construction of a hydroelectric power plant on the Araks River. We are talking about the same Meghi nuclear power plant, which was agreed upon with Iran a long time ago. Still in 2007 On March 19, Armenia and Iran signed an intergovernmental agreement in Meghri, by which it was planned to build two interconnected hydropower plants: Meghri hydropower plant on the Armenian side and Gharachilar hydropower plant on the Iranian side.

Later, on the Armenian side, a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the hydropower plant was also held. But the construction was postponed, and after the Communists came to power, it was removed from the agenda.

At one point, it was decided that the parameters of the construction of the hydropower plant should be changed, the capacity should be reduced. But that was not realized either. In the last 6-7 years, the authorities never even mentioned it, and it turned out that the program initiated during the previous years remained on paper.

The same applies to the creation of the Iran-Armenia-Georgia-Russia electric energy corridor, the foundations of which were laid 10-11 years ago. The authorities of that time carried out a lot of work in the creation of that corridor. On the initiative of Armenia in Yerevan in 2015 a quadrilateral meeting was held, a memorandum of understanding was signed. 2016 the second meeting was held, during which the road map for the creation of the North-South corridor was also signed.

After the change of power, this strategic plan also passed into history. One of the important infrastructural projects planned for its implementation faced obstacles caused by the authorities due to political motives.

We are talking about the construction project of the new Armenia-Georgia high-voltage line, which was supposed to be the continuation of the third Iran-Armenia power transmission line to ensure the capacity of the corridor.

This junction was planned to be launched in 2020-2021. At that time, both the third Iran-Armenia and the new Armenia-Georgia lines should have been built. Years later, we have the fact that both of them do not work.

The construction of the Armenia-Georgia power transmission line has not even started. Although a large amount of work had already been done for its implementation. The issues related to financing, at least the financing of the first phase, were also resolved.

A project implementation consultant was selected, and a tender was announced for the selection of contractors. However, later they canceled all that and stopped the implementation of the project. Tenders have been announced several times in recent years to select contractor companies, but all attempts have failed.

Even today, the implementation of the project is at the same stage as 8 years ago. Not taking into account that during this period, Armenia managed to pay significant sums in the form of fines in exchange for defaulting on the loans taken.

After all this, they are talking about some incredible agreements with Iran, when they existed a long time ago and were delayed, postponed or frozen during the years of the KP government.

HAKOB KOCHARYAN

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