Has the situation in Upper Lars improved? Kerobyan shares good news

In Upper Lars, the congestion has eased, and the queues are insignificant. This was stated by the Minister of Economy of Armenia, Vahan Kerobyan, in a conversation with journalists after the government meeting.

According to him, X-ray equipment has been installed at Lars, and new additional checkpoints have been opened.
“Previously, about 200 trucks with Armenian cargo would pass daily, but now approximately 350 vehicles are crossing through Lars, and the queues have almost disappeared,” noted Kerobyan.

It should be noted that the only overland strategic route connecting Armenia and Russia via Upper Lars regularly gets closed during winter months due to adverse weather conditions, forcing cargo transporters to wait for weeks in line for the road to open.

Recall that since December 1, transportation traffic from the Russian side at the Upper Lars checkpoint has started operating with 12 new lanes. By the end of the year, an additional two lanes for large vehicles are planned to be launched. The total number of traffic lanes will increase to reach 39.
According to the project, it will be possible to achieve a daily throughput of 2,500 vehicles, with a potential capacity of up to 4,000.

Additionally, according to the Ministry of Economy of Armenia, during the first ten days of December 2022, 2,037 freight trucks left Armenia through Upper Lars towards the EAEU countries, while 2,821 trucks passed from Georgia through Upper Lars. This means that the number of freight trucks with Armenian cargo in Georgia has decreased by 800 and now stands at around 1,700 trucks.