Azerbaijan, Baku /corr. Trend S.Aliyev / Constructing a car bridge in Baku Bight with a cost of more than $1bln is envisaged to be completed by 2013, said the Deputy Transport Minister of Azerbaijan, Musa Panahov, on 22 November. According to he Deputy Minister, nearly six years will be spent on the projection and construction of the bridge which is 14.5 km in length.
It needs to begin this project at the end of 2008 in order to conclude it by 2013. According to Panahov, the Government has already determined the conception of the construction, but has not specified it.
The bridge will connect two settlements - Zikh and Shikhov. The Korean Dong Sang Company envisages constructing a paid car bridge which will be managed by them to return the investments allocated for this project. Nearly after 15-20 years, it may be returned to the Government for further management.
According to the suggested project, the State will not bear expenses on the realization of the project. Despite that the bridge will render paid service, due to saving of time and fuel, the payment will not be considerable. The payment may be made via cards or special devices in the cars, which will itself take the necessary amount from the account of the drivers.