Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 30
By Taleh Mursagulov – Trend:
In the next seven years, the volume of traffic by Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway can reach six million tons per year, the National Secretary of the Transport Cooperation Program (TRACECA – Transport Corridor Europe Caucasus Asia) for Azerbaijan Akif Mustafayev told Trend.
Mustafayev also noted that in the next two to three years, this figure can reach three million. The total potential of BTK is 17 million tons per year.
"It is expected that by the end of this year, the total volume of traffic will reach one million tons. This is a pretty good figure for a start," he said.
Mustafayev noted that the cargoes are transported not only from Central Asia, China through Azerbaijan to Georgia and Turkey, but also in the opposite direction.
"Three freight trains leave Turkey weekly in the direction of Central Asia," Akif Mustafayev said.
The national secretary noted that the building materials, detergents, products of agricultural and textile industries and various household equipment are sent in the opposite direction. Basically, these products are delivered to Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.
At the same time, Mustafayev noted that there are issues that need to be addressed.
"The number of project participants goes up and up, and the tariff issues are being addressed currently," he said.
On October 30, 2017, a solemn ceremony was held at the Baku International Sea Trade Port on the occasion of the opening of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway.
The BTK railway is built on the basis of the Azerbaijani-Georgian-Turkish intergovernmental agreement. At the initial stage, the volume of freight traffic will be at the level of 6.5 million tons of cargo, as well as up to one million passengers will be transported through this railway annually.