Electricity power lines.

YEREVAN (Arka) — Armenia’s Energy and Natural Resources Ministry said today it will soon announce an international tender to select a contractor for building the fourth 400 kV electricity transmission line to Georgia.

The total cost of this project, implemented with the support of German state-owned KfW bank is estimated at 326.9 million euros. 10% of the money will be provided by the Georgian side.

The ministry said in a press release that the tender package is being developed by Fichtner GmbH & Co. KG advisory firm, which is also conducting a study to assess the environmental and social impacts of the project.

The Armenian Ministry said also the planned work is being carried out according to the schedule and is expected to be completed by the end of this year. It is to be followed by the launch of construction work that in turn is to be over before the end of 2018.

The project will be implemented in five phases. New transformer stations and several sections of high voltage power lines will be built to increase the total capacity of the facility to 1050 MW.

The cost of the first two phases is estimated at about 188.2 million euros. Some 168 million euros will be provided by KfW bank with which three loan agreements had been signed. Another agreement to the amount of 10 million euros was signed with the European Investment Bank. In addition, the European Commission pledged a 10 million euro grant.

The project’s goal is to unite Armenian and Georgian energy systems to stimulate mutually beneficial regional cooperation between Russia, Georgia, Armenia and Iran, as well as to create preconditions for synchronizing the power system of the CIS countries.