More than AMD 125 million purchased from single entity: another investment from the state budget in the Academic City

A procurement contract has been signed for the purchase of consulting services on transport and mobility of the Academic City worth EUR 296 thousand (AMD 125.3 million).

Back at the October 17 session, the government approved a decision allowing the purchase of services on transport and mobility of the Academic City from single entity through a procurement procedure. In particular, it was proposed that the Higher Education and Science Committee of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Republic of Armenia (MESCS) purchase consulting services on transport and mobility of the Academic City from the “Systematica” company within the framework of the implementation of the “Academic City” project through a single entity procurement procedure.

When presenting the project, Minister of MESCS Zhanna Andreasyan said that they were expecting to receive a transport and mobility master plan within the framework of this project.

“It is paramount that we have clear schemes for what means of transport and what routes people should take to reach the Academic City. The conceptual idea is that for those who wish to come to the Academic City by car, we should have a circular road around the Academic City, which should be the last line of transport movement. In other words, people should have the opportunity to come by car, reach there, while moving around in the Academic City on foot or by bicycle, according to our project, should not be a problem,” Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan added.

After the draft was approved at the government session, Fact Investigation Platform studied the justifications and summary of the government decision, as well as all possible open sources related to the document, but it was not possible to find out how much funds the government is allocating to purchase a service from an Italian company through a single entity procurement procedure.

Officials did not talk about this during the session either.

Following October 17, Fact Investigation Platform sent two written inquiries to the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Republic of Armenia to clarify the value of the contract. The first time, the MESCS informed that the contract had not yet been signed, and only after the second inquiry did they state the following:

“Within the scope of the RA Government Decision No. 1645-A of October 17, 2024, the value of the contract signed with the Italian company “Systematica” on November 29, 2024 for the procurement of consulting services on transport and mobility of the Academic City amounted to EUR 296 thousand, including taxes.”

The specifics of the contract are unknown, it has not been made public, but at the government session on October 17, Minister Zhanna Andreasyan presented what outcome they expected from this contract.

1. To obtain a transport and mobility master plan, which will include all the activities covering the analysis of all possible transport forms and formats and, in this sense, the strategy of the project;
2. To obtain a study on flows, where all data will be collected, and the required databases will be created;
3. Based of the study of flows, to develop their analysis and modeling, in particular, 4 different models are planned, and they will also allow to properly plan further work;
4. To have the design of the roads envisaged under the project;
5. To carry out a preliminary Feasibility Study for the railway, which will also allow drawing the necessary conclusions for the implementation of the Academic City project.

The implementation period of this project is 8 months.

The design phase of the Academic City is planned to be completed in 2025, and construction by 2030. For the construction of the city, it is planned to use 700 hectares in the area adjacent to the 17th district of Yerevan.

The Academic City is planned to accommodate 8 state-owned and 8 private universities. About 44,000 people will work and live in the Academic City. It is also planned to build a National Stadium for 35,000 spectators in this area. The Academic City will be connected to Yerevan by railway.

Fact Investigation Platform also tried to find out how much funds have been spent from the state budget so far for the implementation of the Academic City project.

The MESCS informed that in order to purchase architectural design services, the Higher Education and Science Committee of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Republic of Armenia signed an Architectural Design Services Agreement with the German company “GMP International GmbH Architects and Engineers” (GMP) and the National University of Architecture and Construction of Armenia, according to which AMD 87 million 696 thousand was allocated for the procurement of services in 2023, and AMD 396 million 202.4 thousand in 2024.

At the same time, they also informed that in accordance with the RA Government Decision No. 585-A of April 21, 2023 “on the Establishment of the “Academic City” Foundation and Approval of the Foundation’s Charter,” AMD 30 million was allocated for the maintenance costs of the “Academic City” Foundation in 2023, and AMD 117 million 320 thousand in 2024.

Hasmik Hambardzumyan