It is about 11 km long, newly built Tegh-Kornidzor road, better known as the new route connecting Armenia to Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). Construction work on the road started last summer to complete this April. According to those in charge, the road is already passable.
Our film crew is one of the first to travel along the newly constructed road to the Kornidzor Bridge. This road connects to the road built by Baku through the territory under the control of Azerbaijan and reaches the vicinity of Shushi, which has been closed since December 12 because of the so-called ‘eco-activists’.
Robert Ghukasyan (Syunik province Governor) - There is a new road through the corridor, and it can be said that it is paved from Stepanakert to Yerevan, the road has been moved, it has left the settlements.
According to the preliminary agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the road was supposed to be operational from April 1, but Baku, violating another commitment, does not call home its citizens blocking the road connecting Artsakh and Armenia.
The trilateral statement signed after the 44-day war in 2020 was to define a plan for the construction of a new route through the Lachin Corridor connecting Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia within the following three years. In August 2022, however, Azerbaijan, in violation of Clause 6 of the trilateral statement, prematurely demanded the release of the old Lachin Corridor route. That is why a temporary road was built. It is that route that Gor Avetisyan shows on the map.
Gor Avetisyan (Executive Director of the ‘Road Department’ Foundation) - The former road comes to our new bridge in approximately this section. At these two points, we crossed the border, on March 30 the traffic in this section was stopped by the neighboring state.
It is true that the construction works of the main road are not finished yet, there are furnishing and other works, but they can be carried out in parallel with the traffic.
Robert Ghukasyan - From the bridge of Kornidzor to the village of Tegh, that is, the highway is completely asphalted, about 90% of the section is two-layered, 10% is single-layered.
Three construction companies are carrying out the construction of the road with a contract value of AMD 9 billion 30 million (about $22.6 million).
Gor Avetisyan - Of course, the construction works will continue for a month or two, the contract stipulates that the construction works will be completed in full on April 30. If the weather conditions do not allow it, we have the right to extend it by 1 month. But everything shows that it will be ready on April 30.
About 1 million 200 thousand cubic meters of soil was extracted and about 450 thousand cubic meters of filling was done on the newly constructed road. A road 400 meters shorter than the planned 11.8 km was obtained.
Gor Avetisyan - We got a road with small bends, the main bends start at 6.8 km, on the last 4 km, but we have done a lot of work there, and we have 4 safety pockets, which are not on our roads, if the driver has any problem, he/she can use the pocket at any time.
Tegh-Kornidzor is a third-class technical road. According to those responsible, it is also of high quality.
Gor Avetisyan - They also built a road of the third technical grade, with bigger slopes, drivers will appreciate it later. The quality is directly under our control, the laboratory is regularly visited and on-site quality control, with visual and laboratory checks, the quality is within all norms.
Stepanakert can be reached by the new road even today, if only the so-called ‘eco-activists’ stop the blockade.
