The highly anticipated repairs to the streets of the second city of Armenia, Gumri, which will cost around 24 million euros ($ 25.2 million), will begin in 2017, authorities announced Friday.

The mayor of Gumri, Sambal Balasanian, and Armenian Finance Minister Vartan Aramian signed a joint memorandum on the imminent launch of the large-scale rehabilitation program to be financed by Western donors. Much of the money – a € 14.6 million loan – will come from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

The sum will be used to rebuild 16 kilometers of streets and roads, install new energy-efficient lighting and upgrade the municipal drainage infrastructure. Balasanian said that the first phase of the project worth 8 million euros will be implemented in 2017.

The roads of Gumri have become more and more damaged in recent years. Some streets are practically impassable, placing residents of nearby buildings out of the reach of public transport and taxis.

The city council drew up a list of six major streets in 2014 that required particularly urgent repairs at an estimated cost of $ 2.6 million. The central government rejected the council’s request to finance road works, citing a lack of funds.

This has only increased the growing feeling of local residents that they are paying the price of the low rate of votes for President Serge Sarkissian in Gumri during the last presidential election in 2013. Most of them voted for The main opposition candidate, Raffi Hovannisian.

Just two days before a December 2015 referendum on its controversial constitutional amendments, Sarkissian had announced that the government would spend $ 25 million to repair the streets and the Gumri lighting network. Despite the last-minute promise, most local voters rejected the amendments.

Balasanian, who was re-elected in a very controversial way for a second term in October, denied any political consideration behind the project.

The 2017 budget of the Municipality of Gumri is projected at 3 billion drams (6.2 million dollars). The planned construction could thus give a major boost to the economically depressed city that has not yet fully recovered from the devastating earthquake of 1988.

Some local observers say the government should take more measures such as tax breaks to boost economic activity in Gumri. Aramian spoke out against the idea, arguing that this would represent an additional financial burden for the state.

“Russia has created at least 52 free economic zones and most of them have failed because they were badly planned,” the minister told reporters. “They were mainly used for tax evasion schemes.”