BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 21
By Tamilla Mammadova – Trend:
By 2024, 95 percent of international roads will be built in Georgia and 85 percent of internal roads will be fully repaired, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Regional Development, and Infrastructure Maya Tskitishvili said, Trend reports via Georgian media.
"The pace of construction of high-speed highways in the country has tripled - 198 kilometers of the autobahn was built in 2013-2020, and these roads that connect Georgia with the markets of our region, Europe and Asia, allow us to play an important logistical role," Tskhitishvili said.
According to her, 70 kilometers of new highways will be commissioned in 2020 alone.
"As a result of the completion of projects already underway in 2021-2024, the length of the international highway will be increased by another 200 kilometers, 200 bridges and up to 70 tunnels will be built. Rikoti and other main sections of the East-West highway will be completed, which will reduce travel time from Tbilisi in Batumi up to 3.5 hours," the deputy prime minister noted.
The East-West Highway, or European Transit Road E-60, is the second-largest European transit corridor that starts in Brest (France) and ends in Irkeshtam (Kyrgyzstan). In Georgia, the E-60 starts at the border with Azerbaijan and ends on the Black Sea coast near the port of Poti. In Georgia, the length of the corridor is 392 kilometers.
She emphasized the importance of building highways in different regions of Georgia.
"This year, the Gurjaani bypass road will be completed, and next year we will begin construction of the Tbilisi-Sagarejo highway, and then in the direction of Bakurtsikhe-Tsnori. By 2024, we will have tangible progress in the construction of high-speed highways to all border points, including on the 23-kilometer section of Kvesheti-Kobi, of which nine kilometers is a unique tunnel," she said.
Tskitishvili noted that 1,200 Georgian companies and more than 30,000 people are currently involved in infrastructure projects alone.
She also announced that the internal road infrastructure of the cities of Kutaisi, Zestafoni, Zugdidi, Poti, as well as municipal roads and rural roads will be gradually updated, as a result of which 85 percent of internal roads will be fully repaired by 2024.
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