Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend / The construction of the Turkish section of Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway will begin by the end of 2007, the Transport Minister of Azerbaijan, Ziya Mammadov, said. Within a month, the official ceremony of the commencement of the construction in Turkey will be held.
On 21 November the ceremony of the commencement of the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway in the territory of Georgia took place. According to the Minister, it needs to construct 25km stretch and rehabilitate 160 km.
Azerbaijan allocated a $200mln loan for the Marabda-Kartzakhi Railway line over 25 years with a 1% interest rate. The funds will be directed towards constructing a new 29km railway in the territory of Georgia, a station for replacing wheel steam on the border with Georgia, as well as the reconstruction of the old railway. Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey signed the final document on construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway in February.
The initial cost of the project is assessed at nearly $420mln. The project will enable the opening of a new railway route from Europe to Asia and vice-versa. The existing route passes via the territory of Russia.