On March 21, at the extraordinary sitting chaired by Gevorg Papoyan, the RA NA Standing Committee on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs debated the draft law on Ratifying the “Yerevan Bus Program” loan agreement signed on November 24, 2021 between the Republic of Armenia and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
The RA Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Armen Simonyan noted that the amount of funding within the framework of the “Yerevan Bus Program” loan agreement signed on November 24, 2021 between the Republic of Armenia and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is 20mln EUR, and the loan term is 15 years.
It was emphasized that within the framework of the Sustainable Urban Development Investment Program, a new route network of public transport was developed by the WYG International Limited consulting company and provided to the Yerevan Municipality. According to it, it is necessary to purchase 845 buses of different sizes for the service of the route network. The issue of the financial support for the introduction of the rolling stock of the new transport network was discussed by the Yerevan Municipality in the spring of 2019 with the EBRD, which expressed its readiness to support the acquisition of buses within the framework of relevant sovereign loan agreement. According to the preliminary estimate, 120-150mln EUR will be needed to purchase the total number of buses.
Based on the preliminary agreement reached between the RA Government and the EBRD for the financing of the first phase of the acquisition of buses (25mln EUR, out of which 20mln EUR loans from the EBRD) and the urgency of transport reforms, within the framework of the first stage of the transport reform program, the Yerevan Municipality announced a two-stage tender for Advanced Procurement on February 1, 2021 for the acquisition of 100 12-metre low-floor Compressed Natural Gas ("CNG") buses.
The deadline for submission of bids was March 31, 2021. The proposals currently received are being evaluated.
The agreement may create additional financial obligations for the RA state budget.
The purpose of the program is to ensure the priority of improving the transport network in Yerevan, safe passenger transportation of the citizens, as well as to improve the quality of passenger transportation service, the level of control, increase of efficiency and accessibility.
The speaker answered to the deputies’ questions. As a result of discussion, the draft law was endorsed.