Some $10 million to be invested in Armenian national traffic safety
strategy

YEREVAN, August 21. /ARKA/. Some $10 million is planned to be invested
in Armenian national traffic safety strategy within five years,
Armenian Deputy Transport and Communication Minister Hrant Beglaryan
said Friday at a press conference in Novosti International Press
Centre.

He said $100,000 would be intended for salaries of members of the
traffic safety council’s board.

The World Bank has granted this money to Armenia.

On August 13, Armenian government approved the national traffic safety
strategy and activity program for five years.

The deputy minister said that the strategy has been worked out under
financial support from World Bank and discussed by the government and
NGOs.

He said that the strategy implies a wide range of steps.

`The funds for the strategy are investments, not expenses, since
traffic accidents in Armenia caused AMD 21 billon or about $70 million
in damage’, Beglaryan said.

`If we invest $10 million for five years, we’ll save $35 million over
this period, i.e. $7 million each year.’

In 2008, 407 people were killed and 3,125 injures in car accidents in
Armenia. M.V.-0—