Robert Kocharyan's Relative and a Notable Road Builder: Who is Constructing the New Road from Armenia to Artsakh?

The new road connecting Armenia to Artsakh has a total length of 33.8 kilometers, with 11.8 kilometers located within Armenian territory. It begins at the Tekh village section of the M-12 interstate road (Goris-Tekh-Berdzor-Stepanakert), passes through Kornidzor village, and ends near the state border, which runs along the Hagar River. A new bridge constructed over the river serves as a border junction.

The second segment is an 8-kilometer corridor passing through the Kashatagh (Lachin) region. This section starts from the state border at the Hagar River bridge and ends at the former Nagorno-Karabakh Republic-Lachin region border. The segment within the territory under the control of the Artsakh Republic is another 14 kilometers, commencing from the border with the Lachin region and concluding near the village of Ten Verst, where it re-connects to the M-12 highway.

As reported by Hetq, 'As is known, the 22-kilometer road stretching from the Hagar Bridge to Ten Verst was constructed by the Azerbaijani side and since this August, traffic between Armenia and Artsakh has been organized along this route. On the other hand, since the 11.8-kilometer segment located within Armenian territory (marked with red arrows on the map below) is still under construction, a temporary route (indicated by blue arrows) has been put in place. This temporary route begins at the Hagar River bridge and connects to the M-12 road about 1.5 kilometers from the Agavno village handed over to Azerbaijan (shown in green arrows) before reaching the Tekh village. When Armenia completes the construction of the 11.8-kilometer segment, expected in the spring of 2023, the temporary route will be closed. The thing is, 7.2 kilometers of the temporary route runs through territory handed over to Azerbaijan, but until spring 2023, it will be monitored by Armenian law enforcement and Russian peacekeepers.'

We learned from the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure (MTAI) that the construction of the 11.8-kilometer road is divided into three sections, with three construction companies at work here. The companies were awarded contracts as part of an urgent open tender.

Former MP’s Nephew to Construct the Tekh-Kornidzor Section

The first 4 kilometers of the road starting from the M-12 (from the end of the Tekh residential area) will be constructed by 'Leopold and Partners' LLC. This refers to the segment between Tekh and Kornidzor. MTAI Secretary-General Arthur Yerytsyans and the company's director, Armen Badalyan, signed the relevant contract on August 24 of this year. The contract price amounts to 1,080,000,000 AMD, of which 180,000,000 AMD is VAT. This year, works amounting to 355 million AMD are planned, with the remainder set for next year.

Since the Tekh-Kornidzor road was already asphalted, the agreement stipulates that the existing cover will be removed, and in its place, a 10 cm thick layer of sand-gravel will be laid, on top of which a 20 cm gravel base will be created followed by a 16 cm asphalt layer. According to a document describing the work from 2022, the asphalting will occur in 2023. The warranty period for the construction work is 3 years, meaning that if deficiencies arise within 3 years after the acceptance of the road by the contracting authority, 'Leopold and Partners' LLC is obliged to rectify them at its expense within a reasonable timeframe set by MTAI.

The Yerevan-based 'Leopold and Partners' LLC is not a newcomer in the road construction sector. The company was established in 2011 by Armen Gagik Badalyan, who is also the director. He is the nephew of Volodya Badalyan, a former MP and relative of Armenia’s second president, Robert Kocharyan. Badalyan also owns several other construction companies including 'A.A.B. Project', 'Phantom Group', 'Becor', 'Varanda', 'Nor-Hend', 'Nairi and Roza', and 'Infraroad' LLC.

The Second Segment will be Built by a Stepanakert Company

The second segment of the new road will be constructed by 'Karavan' LLC. This pertains to the 5-kilometer section stretching from Kornidzor to the state border. MTAI Secretary-General A. Yerytsyans and the director of 'Karavan', Hakob Hakobyan, signed the contract on August 24 of this year. The contract value stands at 3,550,000,000 AMD, with 592 million being VAT. Works worth 2.3 billion AMD are expected to be executed this year. Like in the Tekh-Kornidzor section, this part will also have a 16 cm asphalt layer, with a 20 cm gravel base and a 10 cm sand-gravel layer underneath. Since it has no previous asphalted road, there is no issue of removing old asphalt here. The agreements specify that asphalting will be completed next year. The warranty period for construction work is also set for three years after the contracting authority's acceptance of the road.

'Karavan' LLC is a Stepanakert-based company founded in 2002 in the Berkadzor village of the Askeran region. Its founder and director, Hakob Hakobyan, hails from Yeghnadzor but has been operating in Artsakh for a long time. In general, 'Karavan' is one of the most active companies in the road construction sector in both Artsakh and Armenia.

Hakobyan is also involved in the 'Olympia' health resort in Jermuk, 'Arm-Agro' in Stepanakert, 'Tartar Energy Invest' LLC, and 'Garni Group' LLC.

Notable Road Builder to Construct a 2.8-kilometer Segment

The third section, measuring 2.8 kilometers, will end near the border bridge over the Hagar River and will be constructed by 'Road' LLC registered in the village of Balakhovit, Kotayk region. Unlike the other two construction companies, the contract with 'Road' is not listed on the Ministry of Finance's procurement site, armeps.am. Nonetheless, MTAI has informed Hetq that 'Road' LLC is indeed the third contractor.

On August 24, the government announced that funding was allocated to MTAI for the construction of the 11.8-kilometer road. Accordingly, 5,551,808,100 AMD was earmarked for construction works, technical supervision, and authorial oversight services to be carried out in 2022, of which 5,463,772,110 AMD is for construction works, 54,052,443 AMD for technical supervision, and 33,983,547 AMD for authorial oversight.

For more details, visit Hetq.