CONCESSIONAL MANAGEMENT THE ONLY WAY TO SAVE ARMENIAN RAILWAYS, MINISTER SAYS

ARMENPRESS
Oct 25, 2007

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 25, ARMENPRESS: Transport and communication minister
Andranik Manukian said yesterday handing the Armenian Railways to a
concessional management is the only way to salvage the aging system
and maintain it as a government property.

Speaking during a parliament Q&A session he said since the collapse
of the former Soviet Union the only investment in the system were $16
million of a World Bank credit for a major repair of a 72-km section
of the railway from Yerevan to Ayrum, while the entire length of the
railway is 306 km.

Manukian said two companies, one from Russia and the other from
India, have made bids in a tender. He said the winning company will
be announced on December 15 and the subsequent talks are expected to
be over by January 15 next year.

The winner of the tender will have to transfer $10 million as
concessional payment and pay 2 percent of its incomes to the
government The railway tariffs will be set by the Pubic Services
Regulatory Commission.

"In a couple of years Armenian Railways will lose its carriages and
locomotives as they are in their last days. Armenia does not have
extra $170 million to repair the railroads and buy new carriages and
this is the main reason that prompts us to hand it to confessional
management,’ Manukian said.