BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 28. Various countries are pursuing North-South project (International North-South Transport Corridor or INSTC) on its water and land sections, Trend reports via Russian media.
According to the media, in order to successfully implement the North-South international transport corridor, by the spring of 2025 a project will be prepared to increase the capacity of the Volga river from Volgograd to Astrakhan port with a length of about 500 km.
"Ships lack sufficient depth on the Volga river approaching the ports of Astrakhan and in the Volga fairway on the route north into the depths of Russia. Rosmorrechflot (Federal Agency for Maritime and River Transport) conducted a tender last year for the development of a project to increase the capacity of the Volga, and the final project will be ready in the spring of 2025," the media said.
Besides, the media noted that the required depth for the passage of various types of vessels on the Volga river is four meters, width is 100 meters, and the radius of curvature (of the banks) is 1,000 meters.
"Currently, the Volga on the stretch from Volgograd to Astrakhan meets the requirements only in terms of width. Extensive work is ahead to change the riverbed, but the situation with the implementation of this project, which allows increasing the cargo flow along the North-South corridor, will be clarified in 2025," the media explained.
The North-South project also addresses onshore issues regarding the construction of a railway from Rasht (Iran) to Astara (the border of Iran with Azerbaijan), for which Russia provides Iran with 1.3 billion euro.
"Two railway tracks will be built there - according to European standards and standards of the former USSR. The technical details are clarified," added the media.
The foundation of the INSTC was laid on the basis of an intergovernmental agreement signed between Russia, Iran, and India on September 12, 2000. Azerbaijan joined the agreement in 2005.
In total, 13 countries (Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Armenia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Oman, Russia, Tajikistan, Türkiye and Ukraine) have ratified the agreement. The transport potential of the North-South corridor is expected to approach 10 million tons of cargo per year by 2027 (versus a fivefold increase by 2023).
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