Armenian Transport and Communications Minister Manuk Vartanian said on Monday that the government has spoken with officials and financial institutions in Iran, China, and Russia about financing a railway link to Iran, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, or RFE/RL, reported Tuesday.
An Armenian government minister says Yerevan is seeking as much as $1 billion in loans from China to fund the project. After years of discussion, the Armenian and Iranian governments formally agreed in April 2009 to start work on the project.
However, they do not currently have the funding for the 470-kilometer rail link, most of which would pass through Armenia.
"I have also talked to the Asian Development Bank," Vartanian said, "which has expressed its readiness to assist in the project after we meet some demands."
In 2008, the ADB agreed to provide $1.5 million to study the feasibility of such a project. The sum has not yet been disbursed. According to RFE/RL, Vartanian gave no reason for the delay.
Critics have questioned the project's feasibility and cost-effectiveness since its inception.
Former Yerevan Mayor Vahagn Khachatrian said that the project - declared a top economic priority by President Serge Sarkisian shortly after he took office - is a political publicity stunt designed to "distract" people from the main problems facing the country.
"That project will not be implemented," said Khachatrian. "You couldn't implement it even if you had the utmost desire."
Khachatrian, who is a senior member of the opposition Armenian National Congress, argues that the country's debt burden is nearing a "dangerous threshold."
Sarkisian promoted the rail link on a visit to Germany last week. He said the Armenia-Iran rail link as well as the unfolding expansion of Armenian highways into Iran could have "a truly revolutionary significance" for the region.
Hurriyet Daily News
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