Azerbaijan, Baku, 25 June / corr Trend E.Ismayilov / The foundation of the Turkish section of the Baku - Tbilisi - Kars railway route is scheduled to the end of July, Ziya Mammadov, the Azerbaijani Transport Minister stated on 25 June. Afterwards practical construction work will commence, he said
The project is expected to be completed in 2009. Marmaris project (construction of a tunnel under the Bosporus) will also be completed by that time. That will enable to open a railway line to Europe.
Budget of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars for 2008 totals $107mln.
Azerinshaatservis, an Azerbaijani construction company, which won the tender for construction of the 29km-long Georgian section of the railway, has already set up its work.
The total cost of the contract with Azerinshaatservis makes up $79mln.
Financing for construction and design work in Georgia, is being carried out through the Azerbaijani credit of $200mln.
The Baku- Tbilisi-Akhalkalaki- Kars project includes the construction of 105km-railway lines, with 76 km section running via Turkey and 29 km section via Georgia. Moreover, 183 km section of Akhalkalaki-Marabda-Tbilisi railway will be also reconstructed to improve the carrying capacity to 15mln tons of cargo per year. It is planned to build in Akhalkalaki a place for the transition of trains from the track existing in Georgia to the European one. The project is estimated at $422mln and taking into consideration the accompanying infrastructure its cost will comprise $600mln.
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