Baku, Azerbaijan, March 7
By Ilkin Shafiyev – Trend:
Asian Development Bank (ADB) sees great potential in Azerbaijan’s railway sector, Nariman Mannapbekov, head of the ADB office in Azerbaijan, told Trend and Azernews.
“With the railway infrastructure installations in all strategic locations of Azerbaijan (border crossing points, ports, oil production and agricultural regions), railways' competitiveness will be enhanced, which is essential to the country’s production, trade and distribution of bulk materials, such as agricultural and other products,” he said.
Mannapbekov also stressed the importance of the North-South transport project being implemented by Azerbaijan and other regional countries.
“ADB saw the benefits of the North-South rail corridor, which will be more evident once the network from Yalama (northern border) to Astara (southern border) is upgraded, and the planned Rasht-Astara section is completed,” Mannapbekov said. “We firmly believe that the two corridors (East-West and North-South) will enable ADY (Azerbaijan Railways) to capitalize on the country's crossroads location and provide safer, cheaper, more energy-efficient and less road-intensive freight and passenger transportation services.”
The Board of Directors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved granting of a loan for implementation of the North-South Transport Corridor Project, as well as for development of the railway sector of Azerbaijan. ADB itself will issue $400 million, and the French Development Agency (FDA) will provide another $175 million in co-financing.
The International North-South Transport Corridor is meant to connect Northern Europe with Southeast Asia. It will serve as a link connecting the railways of Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia. The corridor is planned to transport 5 million tons of cargo per year at the initial stage and over 10 million tons of cargo in the future.