The Azerbaijani Transport Ministry have stated that construction of the rail link through the route of Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku is to commence in January 2007. The decision was supported at the meeting of the Azerbaijani Transport Minister Ziya Mammadov and the Turkish Minister for Transport and Communications, Binali Yildirim in Baku, Trend reports. The process will begin even if only Azerbaijan and Turkey raise the finance for the project.
At present the pre-project work on the opening of the route is almost complete. A meeting will be held in October regarding the financing of the project. The plan of the route will commence after all issues relating to its financing have been clarified, the Ministry said.
Earlier the General Director of Georgian Railway, said that the Georgian Government is developing a credit agreement which stipulates the approval of a no-interest loan of $220mln. by Azerbaijan to Georgia for the repair of the Georgian section of the Kars-Akhalkalaki railway route.
The project of creating the railway transport corridor Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku includes the construction of the 98-railway stretch Kars-Akhalkalaki, with 68 km through the territory of Turkey and the remaining 30 km through Georgia. In addition, it is intended to reconstruct the section of AkhalkalakiTbilisi. The project is estimated to be $400 million.