Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 18 / Trend E.Ismayilov /
A project on logistics center in the port, which will be built in Alat settlement, presented by Azerbaijan at the First Investment Forum TRACECA held in Brussels on Oct. 12 has attracted great attention of European investors, RACECA National Secretary from Azerbaijan Akif Mustafayev has said on Monday. Construction of the Alat port will be launched by late 2010.
Mustafayev said Azerbaijan's this project was well-founded with the calculations and presentation due to which attracted the attention of European investors, particularly German, Italian companies, as well as the European Investment Bank and other structures.
Investors have voiced their readiness for talks with relevant government agencies to finance the project on the establishment of a logistics center. However, Mustafayev said, the work on construction of the new port should be first launched in order to conduct the necessary meetings and negotiations on the financing. Accordingly, foreign investors may arrive in Azerbaijan in late 2010-early 2011 depending on the time of commencement of the port's construction.
The main purpose of the country's participation in the investment forum was to attract investors. Consequently, the Azerbaijani side has achieved its goals. "Everything else will depend on the negotiations, which will be held between the parties," Mustafayev said.
The Alat port will be multimodal, as in addition to logistics center it is expected to create a free economic zone on its territory.
Construction of a new international sea port in the settlement of Alat will be implemented in three phases and completed by 2015. The first phase of the project involves the construction of two ferries, three cargo berths for receiving containers, ro-ro and conventional (universal) bulk carriers. The second phase of the project includes the construction of three additional cargo berths, the third - the construction of an additional two cargo berths. The project is estimated at more than $400 million.
The port can accept up to 11.6 million tons of cargo.
TRACECA member-states are Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Romania, Armenia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, as well as Iran.
Do you have any feedback? Contact our journalist at: [email protected]