Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Armenia Yervand Zakharyan will make a working trip to Iran to discuss the project of the third Power Line Iran- Armenia along with other issues. The statement came from Deputy Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Ara Simonyan in the Parliament, Monday.
He said the Islamic Republic of Iran gradually overcomes the difficulties with the Western sanctions, which is a good impetus to resume the project of Iran-Armenian Power Lines. The deputy minister hopes minister Zakharyan will manage to settle all the problems connected with implementation of the given project.
Meanwhile, Director General of High-Voltage Power Lines State CJSC Sahak Abrahamyan told ArmInfo Iran refuses to fund the construction of the third power line Iran-Armenia because of some problems with the Armenian settlement bank. According to him, the invoice was submitted, but financing has not been provided yet. "We have not received financing on the basis of the first invoice we submitted yet a year ago. The Iranian party claims that the problem is connected with one of the Armenian banks through which the credit program was to be implemented. Financial problems are not connected with the West's sanctions against Iran," Abrahamyan said.
To recall, the project costs 107.9 million EUR. Iran was to provide the given amount in terms of a loan, including the 83.083 mln EUR loan signed in Sept 2011 and additional 24.817 mln EUR - in April 2012. Under the loan agreement, the construction of the third power line is to be completed within 18 months since the moment of financing.