ArmInfo. A new tender will be held soon to select a contractor for the Kaps Reservoir construction project. This was announced at a press conference on February 3 by RA Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure David Khudatyan.
According to him, the previous contractor for the program, selected through a competitive tender, was significantly behind schedule, which led to the contract being terminated. Only after the tender is held, a new contract is signed with the winner, and the project terms are revised will it be possible to discuss a new construction schedule. Khudatyan expressed hope that construction on the Kaps Reservoir will begin this year. He noted that the RA government cannot guarantee that construction will be completed within the contractual deadlines.
The minister also noted that the Investment Committee has approved plans for the construction of five more reservoirs. Design and estimate documentation for their construction is already ready, and construction will begin in the very near future. Furthermore, as Khudatyan emphasized, the construction of the Vedi reservoir has been fully completed, which, in terms of its scale, is an unprecedented event in the history of the Third Republic.
The reservoir, unfinished due to the 1988 earthquake, has a designed capacity of 110 million cubic meters of water and is located in the Shirak region, 22 km northwest of the city of Gyumri, in the Akhuryan River valley. The program, with a total budget of ?70 million, is financed by the German development bank KfW. The loan agreement entered into force on June 29, 2019, and the deadline for disbursement of funds was set at December 30, 2019, but was subsequently extended to June 30, 2024. The first stage of the program plans to complete the reservoir, which will have a capacity of 25 million cubic meters of water. The second stage plans to expand the infrastructure to 60 million cubic meters. The project includes the construction of auxiliary structures for the Kap Reservoir dam, equipping hydrological observation points on the Akhuryan River (from Lake Arpi to the Akhuryan Reservoir), constructing additional stations, and creating a centralized database (SCADA system). Regarding the Vedi Reservoir, 80% of the construction work was financed by the French Development Agency. On January 26, 2016, the French Development Agency allocated a ?75 million loan to the Republic of Armenia (with ?15 million co-financing from the RA government) to finance the construction of the Vedi reservoir. The reservoir, with a capacity of 29.4 cubic meters and a water surface of 120 hectares, was built under this loan. The Vedi and Khosrov rivers of the Ararat region served as the water sources. The implementation of the program will alleviate water shortages in the Ararat Valley and transition from mechanical irrigation to a gravity-fed system, which will in turn lead to energy savings. As a result of the program's implementation, water intake from Lake Sevan will be reduced by 19 million cubic meters (ensuring uninterrupted and reliable irrigation of approximately 3,220 hectares of land), and the area of irrigated land will increase by approximately 300 hectares. After the reservoir is operational, 11 pumping stations will be shut down, and another three will be partially shut down. Annual savings will amount to approximately 1 billion drams or 19 million kWh of electricity. Intra- grid losses will be reduced by 20-25%. The program was originally planned for completion within four years.
