Aram Manukyan: We have misspent funds and a failed project (video)
The Armenian parliament today discussed a 44 million Euro loan agreement signed between the Republic of Armenia and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in November 2016 During the debate, Aram Manukyan, Secretary of the parliamentary group of the opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK), said that ‘HAK has always been against all loan agreements as Armenia cannot cover its debts which are added by new ones.’ “The loans do not serve their aim and the money is wasted. The North-South Transport Corridor project is a shameful deal which clearly shows that 25 percent of our state debts come from the transport sector,” Mr Manukyan said. With regard to the Armenia-Iran railway construction, the opposition lawmaker said a number of offshore companies are involved in the project. “Here, we are dealing with misspent funds and a failed project. There was a political order and funds were allocated,” he added. In his speech, Deputy Minister of Transport, Communication and Information Technologies Artur Arakelyan said he would try to speak without emotions, presenting specific figures. “Particularly, there is much talk about the North-South Transport Corridor project. It is widely believed that billions have been spent on the project but those are simply emotional talks. $ 70 million has been spent until now to build a 35-km route. Current indicators and comparisons show that we have not spent a dollar more,” he said.
