Part of the Yerevan Development Tracker
Ajapnyak metro station (Yerevan Metro's 11th)
Approved, pre-constructionA new station that would connect the left bank of the Hrazdan to the city centre, with trains running from Barekamutyun through tunnels and over a bridge across the gorge. No other infrastructure project has as much potential to change property prices in western Yerevan.
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Where it stands today
The design is finished and, on paper, has every approval it needs. It passed state expert review on 9 June 2025; the Finance Ministry signed off on the 107.3 billion AMD programme on 20 April 2026, and the Public Investment Committee approved it on 1 July. In September the Prime Minister said Russia may be the best partner, and the mayor said City Hall already has a shortlist of firms to manage the project. Public hearings on the draft decision that land acquisition depends on followed in October. Nothing has been built. The government has not adopted the expropriation decision, no tender for supervision or construction has been announced, and there is no contractor and no confirmed financing. City Hall now plans to start construction in phases in 2027. At least four earlier start dates have already been missed, and nothing about 2027 is binding yet.
How this page is built
Each timeline entry comes from a dated, published source: a government decision, a statement from the mayor's office, a signed contract, a finished tender, a court record, or a report in a reliable news outlet. Promises and announced deadlines don't count as milestones. You'll find them under “What to watch next”.
Confirmed milestones
Government puts up 1.1 bn AMD for the station design
The Cabinet allocated 1.1 billion AMD for design and cost estimates, out of a total design bill of 1.848 billion AMD. The station itself moved 120–140 m from where the 1980s Soviet plan had it, to the corner of Halabyan and Abelyan streets. At the time the line was given as about 1.5 km and construction was expected to take 48 months.
Sources:Epress.amDesign package handed in and sent for state expert review
Mayor Tigran Avinyan said the contractor had delivered the full design package, which was now under expert review, and that the city should be ready to start building the following year.
Sources:1lurer.am (Armenian Public TV)Design clears state expert review
City Hall announced that the design package for the 11th station had passed state expert review. Next, it said, came approval of the full financing, buying out property and resettling people in the affected zone, and preparing the construction tender.
Design declared finished; construction to be tendered in three lots
Avinyan said the design phase was over and tendering would be split three ways: the stretch from Barekamutyun station to the Hrazdan gorge, the bridge across the gorge, and the tunnel with the station itself.
Sources:ARKA News AgencyCity cuts the 2025 budget line from 9.6 to 1.4 bn AMD
Avinyan confirmed the city had cut its 2025 allocation for the station from 9.6 billion to 1.4 billion AMD and spent part of the freed money on 45 new trolleybuses. For 2026, he said, 2 billion AMD has been budgeted for the station.
City official alleges the design contract was paid in full but only partly delivered
Tigran Mushegyan, who heads transport and metro programmes at the city's investment programmes office, said publicly that the designer finished the design stage but not the working documentation. The 1.848 billion AMD contract covered both and was paid in full, he said.
Sources:HetqCity Hall sets a 2026–2031 build window at 98 bn AMD
After a meeting at City Hall, the municipality said construction and installation would run from 2026 to 2031 and cost 98 billion AMD. The state budget would pay, with no international loans, and the project would be managed to FIDIC standards. By July 2026 that financing position had been reversed.
Sources:VerelqCriminal proceedings reported over the design procurement
Hetq reported that the Investigative Committee had opened proceedings for official negligence (Article 446, part 1 of the Criminal Code) over how the design was ordered and bought. The documentation was incomplete, the report said, yet paid for in full. Nobody has been named as a suspect, and the date here is the date of the report.
Sources:HetqCity Hall says the construction tender could slip to 2027
First Deputy Mayor Armen Pambukhchyan said the construction tender “could be announced this year or next”. Every assessment of the project was done, he said, but the preparatory phase had run longer than expected.
Sources:ARKA News AgencyTwo of seven applicants prequalify for the development site next to the station
Seven local and international companies applied in the first round of a two-stage competition for an investment project on the land beside the future station. Two qualified and had until 3 March 2026 to send in concept sketches and feasibility studies.
Sources:AravotTerms of reference for FIDIC-style supervision are ready
Aneta Babayan, an adviser to the mayor, said the specification for construction supervision was finished and going for legal review. It follows FIDIC logic, so the supervisor also acts as engineer and contract manager.
Sources:ArmenpressDraft decision would declare about 4 hectares an overriding public interest
The draft government decision put into circulation covers 31 properties on 41,130.3 m²: homes, a technopark, production premises and land. Buying them out is costed at 9.6 billion AMD. The same documents put the line at 1,500 m and the bridge at about 210 m, with 57 months to build, or 81 if done in phases. The decision has not been adopted.
Sources:HetqProgramme valued at 107.3 bn AMD; Finance Ministry signs off
The mayor's adviser put the economic value of the investment programme at 107.3 billion AMD (about $287.4 million), with an internal economic rate of return of 15.3%. The Finance Ministry had issued a positive opinion, she said, and the programme was waiting for the Investment Committee to meet.
Sources:Novosti-ArmeniaPashinyan wants construction to “finally begin”, starting with the supervision tender
At a government session the Prime Minister said it was very important to finally start building the station. He told City Hall to begin with a tender for technical supervision and move to the next stages after that.
Sources:ARKA News AgencyPublic Investment Committee approves the station programme
The committee's 8th session, chaired by the Prime Minister, approved four public investment programmes. Two of them are construction of the Ajapnyak station and modernisation of the Yerevan Metro.
Sources:HetqMayor says the station is the furthest along of three approved programmes; financing decision due in one to two months
Three infrastructure programmes with a combined budget of $650 million had been approved, and Avinyan said the station was the most mature of them, with complete design and budget documents. A decision on going ahead with international financial partners has to be taken within one to two months, he said.
Sources:AravotArmenia is talking to Russia about the station, Pashinyan says
Pashinyan told reporters after a Cabinet meeting that Armenia was discussing with Russia whether it could take part in building the station, given its long experience with metros. He called Ajapnyak the start of a new phase. At least four new stations are envisioned, with the line continuing through Academic City to Charbakh so that trains can run in a loop. He announced no agreement, terms or financing.
Sources:ArmenpressMayor says City Hall has a shortlist of project managers; Russian firms among those considered
City Hall has a preliminary list of firms it will invite to compete for the job of managing the project, Avinyan told journalists. First comes a project manager and technical supervision with its own engineers, he said, and only then the company that actually builds the metro, about which the city has “certain ideas”. Asked about talks with Russia, he said there was progress and discussion. Russian companies had been considered, he confirmed, but which one is chosen “life will show”. He gave no dates.
Pashinyan says Russia may be the best partner, as no company in Armenia could build a metro
In a Boon TV interview Pashinyan said the government's analysis pointed to Russia as possibly the best partner, given the parameters Yerevan's metro is designed to and was originally built to. “Today there is no company in Armenia” that could take on a metro if the government put one out to tender, he said. Working with Russia would keep the difficulties to a minimum without removing them altogether. He announced no agreement, contractor or financing terms.
Public hearing held on the draft overriding-public-interest decision
City Hall set the hearing for 12 October at its building at 1 Argishti Street. It was meant to present the investment programme, the next procedures and the compensation rules to affected owners, rights holders and anyone else interested. Written submissions had to be in by 9 October. On 19 October City Hall said the draft had completed domestic circulation and the hearings had taken place. The government had still not adopted the decision by then.
City Hall now plans to start construction in phases in 2027
Replying to a query from Sputnik Armenia, City Hall said the current plan is to start construction in phases in 2027. The exact date depends on expropriation and on the tenders. It expects the government to adopt the overriding-public-interest decision, and land acquisition to begin, before the end of 2026. Before any formal tender the city will first sound out the international market. Construction was originally due to start in 2024.
What to watch next (not confirmed yet)
- The government decision on overriding public interest. City Hall expects it before the end of 2026, and expropriation can't begin until it is adopted.
- A signed deal with Russia on building or paying for the station. So far there are only statements. On 6 July the mayor said a decision on international financing partners would come within one to two months; none has been announced.
- Invitations to the firms on City Hall's shortlist for project manager and technical supervision, and the international market sounding the city says will come before formal tenders.
- The construction tender and the name of a contractor. The 2027 start depends on both.
- A winner in the competition for the business centre next to the station. Prequalification closed in February 2026 and no result has been published.
This page tracks what has been built, signed or decided. It doesn't predict prices. Projects get delayed, scaled back or cancelled, and a confirmed milestone doesn't mean prices in the district will go up.
