Azerbaijan. Baku, April 4 / Trend /
Azerbaijani, Turkish and Georgian transport ministers will meet in Istanbul on May 9 as a part of the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, Azerbaijani Transport Ministry said.
A relevant document is expected to be signed at the meeting.
Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey singed a final document on the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway in Feb. 2007. Azerbaijan allocated $200 million in soft loan for the Mardaba-Kartsakhi Railway of Georgia to built Georgian section of the railway. The 25-year loan was issued with interest rate of 1 percent per year. New railway with length of 29 kilometers and service and technical examination point along border with Turkey will be built and old railway will be overhauled in Georgia's territory. BTK costs over $600 million.
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.