Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 7 / Trend E.Ismayilov /
Accession of other countries to the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars rail project will lead to regulation of tariffs and an increase in freight traffic, the deputy head of Azerbaijan Railways JSC Gurban Nazirov said on Friday.
"Kazakhstan has formally appealed its intention to participate in this project. Accession of other countries will mean the use of special provisions and a reduced tariff," Nazirov said.
The new railway will provide transportation of cargo via Georgia to Europe.
According to Nazirov, the project of Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line will be put into operation in 2014.
"This year a positive trend is being observed in freight traffic. In particular, some 21.2 million tons of cargo were transported over 11 months. Compared to last year the plan was executed by 104 per cent," Nazirov said.
According to him, in line with forecasts, an increase in freight traffic by 20-30 per cent is expected next year.
The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway is being built in accordance under the Georgian-Azerbaijan-Turkish interstate agreement.
Azerbaijan assigned a loan of $775 million for the construction of the railway's Georgian section.
This project is financed by the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan in compliance with the order of the President of Azerbaijan 'On the Implementation of Measures on Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Project' of February 21, 2007. Since the start, the project's financing to October 1 2012 is by the State Oil Fund which allocated $403.3 million.
It is planned to construct a new 105 kilometre branch railroad within 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 centre at 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 in the initial stages.