The Project derives from a request from the Government of Armenia and the Yerevan Municipality to the ADB to define a strategic plan to improve infrastructure that would transform Yerevan and other Secondary Cities into a livable cities.
The tranche 1 of the project will focus on improving Urban Transport in Yerevan aligned with the Urban Development Master Plan of Yerevan City and Secondary Cities to promote sustainable, integrated, socially affordable and cost efficient urban transport systems in Armenia.
One of the key aspects of the programs is the reorganization of the surface road and public transport network into a hierarchical network.
In the short term, the main objectives for the Government are
- To complete the road based missing links of the western urban ring; and
- Conduct institutional reforms in the urban transport sector to improve cost-efficiency, attractiveness and profitability of the transport system in Yerevan and in secondary cities.
In addition to the construction of the two road links of the Yerevan Western ring road, a key segment of the loan proceeds will finance project management, capacity building and institutional strengthening. The service objectives within these included –
Project Management and Capacity Building – Support the Municipality of Yerevan (YM) and the Yerevan Development PIU (YDPIU) in the management of implementation of the overall Project 1, in particular ensuring the construction of the two road sections of the Yerevan Western bypass are commissioned on time, within budget according to international standards and quality.
This also included technical assistance and advisory services to the municipality for procurement, safeguards, audit, program monitoring, evaluation, and training programs organized for Yerevan and other urban transport providers. Accordingly communication and public awareness campaigns were also included in this component.
Institutional Strengthening – Provide relevant inputs to the Municipality to improve planning and coordination capacity of the urban transport system. A multimodal coordination and management committee will be set up to develop a integrated/multimodal transport system improving tariff, ticketing, information, signage, communication, accessibility, traffic forecasts, and business plans.
A transport unit will be set up at the municipality level and will develop a multimodal traffic model, with Geographic Information System (GIS), a multimodal urban transport website, and build indicators to measure performances of the transport services; towards enabling this unit to function in an efficient, integrated, effective and customer-oriented manner, to manage and regulate the different modes in Yerevan and ultimately become the Yerevan Transport Authority (YTA). It will also establish an IFI and donor coordination platform. Preparation of Tranche 2 Project (Optional) – This component was planned tohelp the Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Territorial Administration and the Municipality identify PPP opportunities; prepare due diligences; detailed design and bidding documents of the projects to be financed and implemented under the Tranche 2 of this investment program
