During parliament-government Q/A session the RA minister of transport and communication, Andranik Manukyan said that by giving the “Armenia Railways” under concession management the railways will be saved and will stay being state-owned. He also said that during 17 years only 16 million had been invested in the railways to reconstruct its Yerevan-Ayrum part, which was supported by World Bank (72 kilometers out of 306 kilometers). The concession manager will invest about 170 million, 80 million out of which will be spent on acquiring rolling stock, and the rest amount will be spent on reconstructing the substructures. The concession manager competition was officially launched on October 15 and packages have been sent to the main two companies, which have passed the pre-qualification phase (“Russian Railways” and Indian company “Braids”). The technical proposals of these companies will be opened on December 21. The companies have to earn at least 80 points. On January 8 it will be clear which of these companies will be the concession manager of the Armenian Railways. However, it is almost clear to everyone that it will be Russia.
