Azerbaijan, Baku, May 8 / Trend , E. Ismayilov/
The date of the meeting of Azerbaijani, Turkish and Georgian transport ministers to take place in Istanbul as a part of the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway has changed, Azerbaijani Transport Ministry Transport Policy and Economy Department Head Sadraddin Mammadov said. The meeting was originally planned to be held on May 9. Now it is planned to be held either on May 17 or 24.
"The meeting has been postponed upon request of the Georgian delegation. Turkey will organize the meeting either on May 17 or 24. Additional talks will be held on this issue," Mammadov said.
He said the meeting will focus on designing a tunnel along Turkey-Georgia border.
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.
Связаться с автором статьи можно по адресу: [email protected]