Details added (the first version was posted at 11:33)
Georgia, Tbilisi, Dec.24 / Trend, N.Kirtskhalia /
Georgia does not intend to stop the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili said at a press briefing on Monday.
"No one is going to stop the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway. On the contrary, we intend to contribute to its construction," Ivanishvili said.
He stressed that implementation of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project is "very interesting" from a geopolitical point of view, but there are questions in the economic terms.
"The construction of the new railway may cause an outflow of goods from Georgian ports and from Georgian railway, so we need to consult with our neighbors, especially with Azerbaijan," he said.
Ivanishvili said that the money is spent on the Georgian Railway development and it raises some questions.
"My questions have reached their addressee, and we will discuss these problems," he said.
Ivanishvili said that there are many issues around this project and why he intends to discuss during the visit to Baku on 26 December.
Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway is constructed based on the Georgian-Azerbaijani-Turkish intergovernmental agreement.
Earlier, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and Azerbaijani Transport Ministry expressed their concern over Ivanishvili's statements on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, made during an interview with the Georgian media outlets.
Azerbaijan has allocated a soft loan worth $ 775 million for Georgia to construct and reconstruct the Georgian section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway. Funding of the project by SOFAZ is carried out in accordance with the Decree of the President of Azerbaijan "On the implementation of the project activities of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars".
It is planned to construct a new 105-kilometer branch railroad in the frame of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project. In addition, the section of the railway Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Marabda will be reconstructed in Georgia, which will increase its capacity to 15 million tons of cargo per year. It is planned to build a place 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 at the initial stage.