Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct.9/ Trend, E.Tariverdiyeva /
Regional projects are priority of relations between Georgia and Azerbaijan, and they will further develop. Georgian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Teimuraz Sharashenidze made this statement at a press conference on the results of the Georgian parliamentary elections on Tuesday.
"Azerbaijani and Georgian sides have completed their parts of the construction within one of these projects - Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, and now the construction should be completed in Turkey," he said.
He said there is difficult landscape and relief for construction in Turkey and it will take some time for the country to complete the work.
This project is of great importance for the region, "no wonder it is called the Project of The Century", Sharashenidze said.
Currently, work is underway on the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway which is designed to unite the railway systems of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. The route will be launched by late 2012 and the railway will be fully commissioned in 2013.
It is planned to construct a new 105-kilometre branch railroad as part of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project. In addition, the section of the Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Marabda railway will be reconstructed in Georgia which will increase its capacity to 15 million tons of cargo per year. It is planned to build a base in Akhalkalaki for the transition of trains from the existing train tracks in Georgia to the European one.
Peak capacity of the corridor will be 17 million tons of cargo. This figure will be at the level of one million passengers and 6.5 million tons of cargo initially.