Azerbaijan, Baku, March 7 / Trend E. Ismayilov /
The development of railway infrastructure on the Azerbaijani territory will have a positive impact on cargo traffic within the TRACECA transport corridor (Europe-Caucasus-Asia), TRACECA National Secretary from Azerbaijan Akif Mustafayev told Trend today.
In particular, the reconstruction of the Baku-Boyuk Kasik railway section will create an opportunity to increase traffic within the corridor.
"The railway section reconstruction is part of the chain, which will ensure an increase in traffic on the corridor route corridor," Mustafayev said.
He said that "Azerbaijan Railways" presented the reconstruction project of the Baku-Boyuk Kasik railway section within the second Investment Forum TRACECA, held in Brussels on February 28. During the presentation, the participants of the tender got all necessary information. The importance of this project for the development of transport communication between Europe and Asia was stressed.
In particular, the implementation of such major projects in Azerbaijan as the establishment of railway communication Baku-Tbilisi-Kars, construction of a new international sea port in the settlement of Alat (Baku), reconstruction of the Baku-Boyuk Kasik railway section is of great importance and will create conditions to expand the communication between Europe and Asia, Mustafayev said.
At present, about 317 kilometers of the Baku-Boyuk Kasik railway is being repaired through the credit worth $ 215 million allocated by the Czech Exim Bank.
The work started on June 10, 2011 from a 97-kilometer section of Agstafa-Tatli. About 61.5 kilometers of the railway have been repaired.
The World Bank also participates to finance this railway project.
"The main purpose of TRACECA investment forum was to present the projects to investors," he said. The future stages of the projects will depend on the interest of investors and arrangements that can be reached between the parties."
TRACECA is an international transport cooperation program between the EU and its Partner countries in Eastern Europe, South Caucasus and Central Asia. It has a permanent Secretariat in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Currently, TRACECA member states are Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia.