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Georgian minister will discuss in Turkey construction of railroad Marabda-Tetritskaro-Tsalka-Akhalkalaki-Kartsakhi

Business Materials 20 October 2010 17:18 (UTC +04:00)
Georgian Regional Development and Infrastructure Minister Ramaz Nikolaishvili received the Turkish ambassador Levant Murat Burhan, the Ministry told Trend today.

Georgia, Tbilisi, Oct.20 / Trend N. Kirtskhalia /

Georgian Regional Development and Infrastructure Minister Ramaz Nikolaishvili received the Turkish ambassador Levant Murat Burhan, the Ministry told Trend today.

The meeting aimed at arranging Nikolaishvili's visit to Turkey scheduled for late October. The main topic of the visit is to discuss issues on the construction of the Marabda-Tetritskaro-Tsalka-Akhalkalaki-Kartsakhi railroad branch.
During the visit meetings are planned with the Turkish Transport Minister and state ministers.

Construction of the railway was the main topic of discussions at the meeting with the ambassador. This project involves Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey.

Nikolaishvili stressed the strategic importance of the project. The economic profit of the implementation of this rail project was stressed as well.

He expressed a desire on the Turkish companies' active participation in tenders announced by the Ministry. According to him, the Georgian market is open for the Turkish investors.

In turn, Murat Burhan said the planned visit will be useful both in terms of deepening the relations between the ministries, and in terms of closer relations between the two countries.

A new 105-kilometer railroad branch will be constructed as a part of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway. About 76 kilometers will stretch via Turkey, 29 kilometers through Georgia. Moreover, an Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Marabda railway section will be reconstructed in Georgia to increase transport capacity up to 15 million tons of cargo a year. A point of train transition from the existing train tracks in Georgia to the European one is planned to be built in Akhalkalaki.

The project is estimated at $422 million, given the attendant infrastructure -  $600 million Azerbaijan allocated to the Georgia Railway Marabda-Kartsakhi a soft loan amounting to $200 million for a period of 25 years under one percent a year.

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