Azerbaijan, Baku, June 17 /Trend, E.Ismayilov/
Azerbaijan, Russia and Iran are considering the sources of funding the construction of the railway as part of the North-South transport corridor, Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin said in Baku.
He said the transport authorities of Azerbaijan, Russia and Iran has a memorandum of understanding on this issue.
"The questions [of funding] within the project are now worked out," said Levitin.
The heads of the railway administrations of Azerbaijan, Russia and Iran signed an agreement establishing a joint venture as part of project of North - South railway transport corridor February 7 in Tehran.
The head office of the joint venture will be located in Moscow. Its branches will be located in Baku and Tehran.
About $400 million is envisaged to be invested in the construction of the railway. Investment is planned to be involved by the participating countries at the expense of their banks, as well as other regional financial institutions. There is high probability that it will be Russian banks.
In the first years, the freight traffic volume of the railway is projected at six million tons per year, and subsequently the volume of goods will increase to 15-20 million tons per year.