Within the scope of the visit to Shirak Province, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan got acquainted with the completed and ongoing projects in the communities funded by the Government and subsidy programs.

Nikol Pashinyan's first stop was on the M-1, Yerevan-Gyumri-Georgia border interstate highway, the major repair of the1.8 km long section of which started this year and is expected to be completed by the end of the year. The total cost of the project is 443.5 million AMD, which was allocated from the state budget.

Next, the Prime Minister visited the park of the Ashotsk settlement, the construction of which started in 2022 and is expected to be completed by the end of the year. The works of the first phase of the park with a total area of 3,730 square meters, which is being built for around 10,600 beneficiaries of the enlarged Ashotsk community, have been completed, for which 17,212 million AMD have been allocated from the state budget, 60% of the works of the 2nd phase have been completed. The total cost of the subsidy program is more than 121 million AMD, 45% of which was allocated from the state budget.

The Head of the Government was presented with the construction works of the Aregnadem school, which started in 2021 and is expected to be finished this year. The school is designed for 100 children. The total cost of the project is more than 645 million AMD, which was allocated from the state budget.

The Prime Minister also got acquainted with the construction works of the Kaps reservoir, which started this year. It is planned to restore and build the semi-constructed reservoir of Kaps, which is located 22 km north of Gyumri, in the Akhuryan river valley. The project includes reinforcment and restoration of the Kaps dam, construction of a reservoir with a volume of 60 million cubic meters. The "Combined Management of Water Resources/Akhuryan River, Phase 1" program is financed by the loan funds of the Reconstruction Credit Institute (KfW) and co-financing by the Government of the Republic of Armenia. The total cost of the program is 94.8 million euros, including loan funds - 68.5 million euros. The construction of the reservoir will increase the water supply level of around 17,000 ha of land areas, as well as create an opportunity to replace the mechanical irrigation of 2280 ha of land areas with gravity irrigation, saving 1.3 million kWh of electricity annually. The reservoir will create an opportunity to increase the irrigated land areas of Shirak Province by another 920 ha, and change the irrigation method of around 6600 ha of land areas in Talin region of Aragatsotn Province from mechanical to gravity irrigation, saving 11 million kwh of electricity annually. As a result of regular irrigation, the agricultural output will increase. Within the framework of the project, it is planned to relocate the residents of the village of Jradzor in Shirak Province to a new village being built during the independence of Armenia.

Nikol Pashinyan's next stop was the construction site of the new sports complex of the Greco-Roman wrestling school named after Arthur Aleksanyan. The works started in 2021, completion is planned for 2026. The sports complex of republican importance in Shirak Province will have all the conditions for the development of children's and youth sports: large competition and training halls for wrestling, weightlifting and gymnastics, stadiums including a football field, running track, swimming pool, hotel area to accommodate the visiting athletes, entertainment hall and other necessary infrastructure. The total cost of the project is 6.5 billion AMD.

The Head of the Government then visited at the regional center of the unified social service of Gyumri, which will provide social services to around 55 thousand beneficiaries in the new building on a one-window basis. The construction works of the center started in February 2020. The new center will enable the work of the social protection sector to become more coordinated and operative. The establishment of the center, for which 392.4 million AMD was allocated by the Armenian government and the World Bank, will enable residents to use the services of social security, employment, assessment of personal functionality and social support under one roof.

Next, the Prime Minister visited the Gyumri Medical Center, toured in the oncology, neurology and stroke departments, got acquainted with the details of the invasive cardiology service. The invasive cardiology service is equipped with the state of the art generation angiographic equipment, which enables to provide high-quality medical care and service to the region. This service is the only one in the province. Blood donor chairs were also recently purchased for the oncology department, which enabled patients to receive a chemotherapy session in more comfortable conditions. The Department of Neurology has been equipped with the latest equipment. The total cost of the project is 129 million 828 thousand AMD.

In the Karnut settlement of the Akhuryan community of the region, Nikol Pashinyan got acquainted with the construction works of a modular kindergarten with an area of 490 square meters, designed for 2 groups of 50 students. The total cost of the project is more than 264 million AMD, of which 30% is the co-financing from the community budget, and 70% is the amount allocated from the state budget. The works started in 2022 and will be completed before the end of the year. The thermal insulation works of the external walls of the building have been carried out, the construction of the roof, interior finishing, and improvement of the yard are in progress. The property of the kindergarten is planned to be acquired through a subsidy program.

The Prime Minister also got acquainted with the works for enlarging the departure hall of Gyumri’s "Shirak" airport building, which started in 2023. The investment for the modernization of the departure hall is about 500 million AMD. The new arrival hall of the airport was put into operation on September 16, 2021. It is more than 2 times larger than the previous arrival hall, has the ability to serve 1 flight per hour, which can be increased up to 3 times if necessary, increasing the actual capacity of the airport from 250,000 passengers to 700,000 per year. The runway of the airport was completely overhauled, a new lighting system was installed. The new arrival and departure halls under construction will be able to serve up to 1.2 million passengers annually. In parallel, renovation works are underway in the area of 700 square meters of the old airport building, where it is planned to provide space to organizations providing state services. The total investment in Shirak airport is 17 million USD. The investments were made by "Armenia International Airports" CJSC.

The Head of the Government was also presented with the major repair works of the 5.7 km long section of the Aztan settlement of the VM-1, Yerevan-Gyumri-Georgia border interstate highway, which started in 2023 and is expected to be completed by the end of the year. The total cost of the subsidy program is 1 billion 260 million AMD.

Nikol Pashinyan was at the construction site of school No. 2 in Aztan settlement of Akhuryan community. Construction with a cost of 1.5 billion AMD are carried out within the framework of the Seismic Safety Improvement Program. The works started in 2022, completion is planned in April 2024. Azatan secondary school consists of 2 buildings. One of the buildings was built in recent years, and the second one was built in 1988 and is in a bad condition. Within the framework of the project, it is planned to build 6 new buildings next to the newly built building, having a school in line with modern educational conditions in one place. It is also planned to replace the heating system of the newly constructed building. The buildings under construction is designed for 560 students, another 300 students can attend the existing building. Currently, 702 students attend the Azatan secondary school.

Next, the Prime Minister got acquainted with the construction works of the Lanjik-Gyumri 23 km section of the "North-South Road Corridor Investment Project" Tranche 3. Around 75% of the Lanjik-Gyumri road section is one-way traffic. The works will be completed before the end of the year. The cost of the project is 74 million euros or 38.9 billion AMD. Along with the asphalting works, the installation of road safety elements is going on.

Nikol Pashinyan was presented with details about the progress of the renovation works of the culture house in the Panik settlement of the Artik community. Within the scope of the subsidy program, the house of culture with a total area of 610 square meters is being renovated. The works started in 2021, completion is planned this year. 80% of the works have been completed, 27.7 million AMD have been allocated from the state budget. Partial reinforcment of the walls of the building was carried out. Currently, interior and exterior finishing works are underway. It is also planned to build a heating system.

The details of the major repair works of the 4.9 km long section of the H-21, /H-75/ - Horom - Artik - Alagyaz national highway, which started in 2022, were also reported. construction works are expected to be completed this year. The total cost of the project is 1 billion 94 million AMD.

It was also noted that the major repair works of intra-community asphalted roads of Ani community settlements have been completed. Within the framework of the subsidy program, in 2021, the section of the Dzorakap-Maralik road with a length of 580 km was overhauled. The total cost of the project is more than 134 million AMD, 60% of which is the amount of co-financing from the community budget, and 40% is the amount of money allocated from the state budget. 33.5 million AMD was allocated from the state budget.

Nikol Pashinyan paid tribute to the Armenians who sacrificed their lives for the sake of the motherland in various communities of Shirak Province.

The Prime Minister's visit to Shirak Province has ended.