ARMENIA, IRAN TO BUILD MOST POWERFUL HYDRO POWER PLANTS IN REGION AT ARAKS RIVER

ARKA
March 18, 2009

YEREVAN, March 18. /ARKA/. Armenia and Iran are to build the most
powerful hydro power plants in the South Caucasus on Araks boundary
river, Armenian Deputy Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Ara
Simonyan said at a parliament session Tuesday.

One of them is to be constructed in Meghri of Armenia, the other in
Karachilar of Iran, he said.

Each of the two plants is expected to generate 800mln kilowatt-hour
electricity every year.

For comparison purposes the Deputy Minister said that today the most
powerful Armenian hydro power plant is Sevan-Hrazdan cascade that
produces an annual of 500-600mln kilowatt-hours.

Simonyan also pointed out that for implementation of the project,
each side needs to establish certain area, ensure its security and
arrange a simplified procedure for workers, engineers to cross the
border, as well as for easy transportation of construction materials.

The practical stage of the project is to start soon and the agreement
needs to be ratified to allow starting the construction, Simonyan said.

The protocol to ease the crossing of the Armenian-Iranian border
during the construction of the hydro power plants was signed twice –
on June 25 2008 in Yerevan and on July 19 2008 in Tehran.