On July 27, the meeting of transport ministers of Azerbaijan, Georgia, turkey, Kazakhstan and China is held in Astana. Apart from other issues, the meeting focuses on opening railroad communication Kars-Ahalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku, reportedly said Ziya Mamedov, Azeri Transport Minister.
The meeting of workgroups to discuss the final TEO of the project is starting in Georgia tomorrow. Georgia has its own proposals on this TEO, in particular inclusion of some additional issued related to further infrastructure upgrade.
The railroad communication Kars-Ahalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku project includes construction of 98km long railroad between Kars and Ahalkalaki, from which 68km runs in Turkey and 30km in Georgia. The certain Также reconstruction is required at railroad Ahalkalaki-Kars. The project cost estimate is $400mln. Minsiter said additional operations do not affect the project cost.