Yerevan mayor announces terms of Ajapnyak metro station construction 

ArmInfo.  The Yerevan Metro's Ajapnyak station construction project has passed all expert assessments, and work could begin in 2026. Yerevan Mayor Tigran Avinyan announced this at a government meeting on September 18. The city administration has requested 580 million drams from the Cabinet  of Ministers for the design work at the Working Documentation stage  of the Yerevan Metro's Ajapnyak station.

According to him, the construction project is divided into three  phases: construction of the tunnel section from the Barekamutyun  metro station to the gorge, construction of the bridge and tunnel  from the bridge to the station, and construction of the station  itself.

"We will announce tenders for three lots, notify all potential major  companies, determine the winner, and in the next stage, discuss the  provision of financial resources. I can say that we can begin work on  the Ajapnyak station in 2026," Avinyan said. According to him, after  the construction of the Ajapnyak metro station, passenger traffic  will increase by approximately 25%.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, in turn, emphasized that the issue of  further metro development is also being discussed as part of the  Academic City project.  "When we discussed possible scenarios for the  development of the Academic City transportation system, we concluded  that we have the opportunity to develop the metro from the Ajapnyak  station to the Academic City and extend the line from the  Akademgorodok station to the Charbakh metro station. Essentially, we  will have a kind of circular metro system," Pashinyan said.

At the same time, the prime minister noted that the project to build  a new metro station is large-scale, and its implementation could take  a long time. "Look, we described this in two minutes, and in 15  minutes they'll start asking: 'Where is it? Why hasn't it been built  yet?' They said so, but they didn't do it, and so on. I want us to  understand that our state has never implemented such large-scale  projects in its entire existence. Even in the fastest-moving places,  these projects aren't being implemented with such speed," Nikol  Pashinyan stated.

As a reminder, in late November 2021, it was reported that the  leading Russian company Metrogiprotrans won the tender announced by  the Yerevan City Hall to design the Ajapnyak metro station in the  Armenian capital's Ajapnyak district. The preliminary design called  for a bridge across the Hrazdan River for the metro only, but  Metrogiprotrans proposed building a second "floor" for cars and  pedestrians. Valery Abramson, Chairman of the Board of Directors of  Metrogiprotrans, also proposed a $500 million metro development  project to the Armenian government. "The Russian Agency for Export  Credit and Investment Insurance (EXIAR) is ready to support the  program on favorable terms. With these funds, we will be able to  modernize the old metro infrastructure and also plan areas of the  city toward which the stations could be expanded," Abramson stated.

It was reported that if the loan agreement with EXIAR is approved,  construction work would last approximately 1.5 years. According to  city officials' plans, the route to the new 525-meter metro station  will pass through a tunnel, the construction of which began during  Soviet times and remained unfinished. At that time, the Ajapnyak  station remained unfinished; its extension to the Davitashen district  on the northwestern outskirts of the city is planned.

Earlier, the mayor's office stated that construction, which will last  approximately four years, is scheduled to begin in 2026. The  medium-term expenditure program amounts to 6 billion drams, but this  amount will be adjusted following the approval of the program by the  Investment Council.

In January 2024, Tigran Avinyan announced at a cabinet meeting that  the construction project was fully completed and was undergoing  expert review. After undergoing a comprehensive review, the mayor's  office hopes to discuss the project at the next meeting of the  Investment Committee under the government. "I hope that we will even  begin construction this year. If the current pace is maintained, I am  confident that we will complete construction in four years, as  planned," the mayor stated at the time.