Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 26 / Trend /
The Azerbaijani Transport Ministry and the Dutch Royal Haskoning Company discussed a plan for the construction of a new international sea trade port in Alat on the Caspian coast, the ministry said.
The sides viewed the establishment of a geodesic network on the territory of the port, which will comprise of a railway and an automobile road connecting the port to a major highway.
The plan will be submitted to relevant organizations for proposals.
The port will be multimodal because it will create a free economic zone and a logistic center.
The new international sea port will be constructed in three stages and will be completed by 2015.
The first stage of the project, 2008-2010, envisages the construction of two bridges for ferry boats, three freight bridges for containers, Ro-Ro ships and simple (universal) dry cargo ships.
The second stage of the project, 2011-2013, envisages the construction of three other freight bridges. And the third stage of the project, 2014-2015, envisages the construction of two additional freight bridges.
The project is worth over $400 million.
Eleven berths will be built on the new port, of which six will be completed in the first phase of the project. After the port is finished its capacity will be 11.6 million tons of cargo.
At the moment, there are six international trade ports in the Caspian Sea - Baku (Azerbaijan), Turkmenbashi (Turkmenistan), Aktau (Kazakhstan), Astrakhan (Russia), Enzeli and Neka (Iran).