Azerbaijan, Baku /corr. Trend S.Aliyev / By 5 August Azerbaijan and Georgia should become familiar with the working project on the construction of Georgian section of Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, a source stated at the Transport Ministry of Azerbaijan on 16 July.
The Turkish company, Yukcel Domonic, completed devising a working project on the construction of the Georgian section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway. Last week, experts of the transport ministries of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey came together in Tbilisi to discuss the project. A tender is expected to be announced in the near future on the construction of the Georgian section of the railway. Turkey has already announced a bid on the construction of the railway from Kars to the Georgian border.
In August 2007, the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan plans to transfer $40mln as the first tranche to Georgia for the construction of the railway.
The Azerbaijani President issued the Decree 'Arrangements on Implementation of Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Project' to which a state commission was established under the chairmanship of the Transport Minister Ziya Mammadov. The commission includes representatives of the Ministries of Finance, Foreign Affairs, and Economic Development, the heads of the State Oil Fund, the railway, and the International Bank of Azerbaijan.
The Azerbaijani Government appointed the Ministry of Transport as the coordinator of the project. The State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan will allocate a $200mln credit to the Georgian Government through the Ministry.