Kazakhstan, Astana / corr Trend K.Koniorva / Arif Asgarov, the head of the State Railway (ASR), stated in Astana on 17 May that construction of the Baku (Azerbaijan) - Tbilisi (Georgia) - Kars (Turkey) railway is expected to be completed by 2009.
"We are planning to set up construction of the railways in June, once all necessary documents have been registered and tenders are finalised. The construction will take 2 years to complete and will be commissioned in 2009," Asgarov noted.
The feasibility study and tender documents on the construction of the railway will be submitted by the end of May. The cost of the purchase of land as well as its construction will be included in Yuksel Domonik's package deal. The railway will be built within the framework of the Baku (Azerbaijan) - Tbilisi (Georgia) - Kars (Turkey) railway project. The Azerbaijani Government appointed the Ministry of Transport as the co-ordinator of the project. The State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan will allocate $200mln credit to the Georgian Government through the Ministry.
"It is difficult to name the country of origin, because the route does not exist now. The project connects Central Asia to Europe and incorporates all Central Asian countries, which can deliver cargo via Azerbaijan to Georgia and Europe and vice versa," Asgarov added.