The Armenia Lifeline Road Improvement Project: Bringing Roads to Life

The roads linking villages to the main highways are often called lifeline roads in Armenia. They are vital for the communities located at several kilometers away from urban areas. Supported by the World Bank, the Lifeline Roads Improvement Project (LRIP) has been targeting the improvement of rural road conditions. The project has been/ prepared on an accelerated procedure basis, contributing to the efforts of Armenia to face the global economic crisis. The Bank and the Government managed to design, negotiate, and complete the loan arrangement within seven weeks of receiving the request /. The Government then prepared and bid 25 different contracts in a record time of three months. Implementation is completed, and the results are seen on the ground... The project created jobs in rural areas where many people lost them, such as Chochkan-Pokr Ayrum road in Tumanyan of Lori region, where mines were closed following the economic crisis. Since the start of civil works in June 2009, about 350 people have been working on a daily basis to build roads. The rehabilitated 3.5 km road connecting Vardenut and Arayi villages in Aragatsotn region to the highway is one of the outcomes of the Lifeline Roads Project. According to the Banks Rural Infrastructure study, conducted in 2004, , the poor condition of rural roads resulted in significant losses of produce in 42 percent of rural communities in Armenia, with some 24 percent of communities reporting output losses of 30 percent or more. In some communities, the losses resulting from the inability to bring crops to markets in time amounts to 80 percent of the total harvest. The road from here to the highway was previously ruined. It took 25-30 minutes to reach the village crossroad from Yerevan, and then the poor road started. People had to spend 30 more minutes to pass that 3 km section. The road rehabilitation is completed, and now Vardenut and Arayi villagers to reach Yerevan much faster than before. While in Armenia, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Managing Director of the World Bank visited the villages with rehabilitated roads. In order to reinforce the positive impact, the Government requested and the World Bank endorsed the Additional Financing to LRIP last fall. This will allow rehabilitating another 140 kilometers of lifeline roads, and almost 40 km of them have been already improved. NOTE: This video prepered by Altera ltd of Internews Media support NGO for World Bank Armenia