BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 21
By Sadraddin Aghjayev - Trend:
Azerbaijan has completed on its territory all work on the implementation of the North-South International Transport Corridor Project, which will create opportunities for regional cooperation and greatly reduce the distance and delivery time from India, Pakistan, Iran, and other countries of the Persian Gulf to Northern and Western Europe and back, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Transport, Communications, and High Technologies told Trend on Jan. 21.
“The construction of a bridge across the Samur River on the Azerbaijani-Russian border was completed in late 2020, which is important not only for the two countries but also for the region as a whole,” the ministry said.
“Moreover, the work on the construction of the Baku - state border with Russia highway, which is expected to be completed by late 2021, is underway,” the ministry said.
“It is planned to start construction of a road bridge on the Azerbaijani-Iranian border soon, which will continue for one year,” the ministry said.
“A new railway line stretching 8.3 kilometers has been laid from the Astara railway station to the border with Iran,” the ministry said. “The construction of a railway bridge across Astarachay, as well as a railway with a track gauge of 1,520 mm and a length of 2.2 kilometers to the terminals which are under construction in Iran, has been completed.”
“The terminal complex in Iran’s Astara consists of four terminals, namely, general, container, grain, and oil,” the ministry added. “The construction of this complex is expected to be completed soon."
“The first stage of the Astara-Astara railway project was launched and the foundation of the grain terminal was laid in March 2018,” the ministry said. “The Qazvin-Rasht section of the Qazvin-Rasht-Astara (Iran) - Astara (Azerbaijan) railway was opened on March 6, 2019, which will become part of the North-South International Transport Corridor. The Rasht-Astara railway (Iran) is planned to be built soon.”
"Some 363,842 tons of cargo were transported through the Astara terminal in 2019,” the ministry said. “If we take into account that this figure was 263,976 tons in 2018, then we observe an increase in cargo transportation by 38 percent.”
“Cargoes which are sent mainly from Russia to Iran and vice versa pass through Azerbaijan,” the ministry said. “The main types of cargo are wood materials and wood products (48 percent of the total cargo transportation), cereals (17 percent), construction materials (18 percent), fruits and vegetables, containers and other goods (17 percent)."
In accordance with the forecasts of the ministry, the volume of cargo transportation will increase by 15-16 percent and will amount to approximately 420,000 tons in 2021.
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