BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 29. China Railway Tunnel Group Co., Ltd. has bored the Gudauri tunnel posed to enhance the efficiency and safety of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), Trend reports via the China.org.cn portal.
"The 8,860-meter tunnel will also elevate Georgia's status as a crucial transportation hub and a vital corridor connecting Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and other neighboring countries," the portal said.
According to the portal, the work concerned the organization of road transport through the tunnel to more than triple the speed of crossing this section on the Georgian part of INSTC and resolving the seasonal traffic disruption in this highland area.
The Georgian highway section of INSTC has a total length of 22.7 kilometers.
China Railway Tunnel Group Co., Ltd. constructed the new 10-kilometer section in one of the Georgian regions on INSTC after winning the relevant tender. It completed the boring of the Gudauri tunnel at the end of this month.
As the portal emphasized, the tunnel is designed as a two-way dual carriageway and represents the largest single infrastructure project within Georgia.
To note, INSTC, with a total length of over 7 thousand kilometers, is a multimodal route with a starting point in St. Petersburg (on the Baltic) and then heading south towards Iran (one direction) and India (another direction), involving all modes of transport (road, rail, and sea transportation of goods).
Overall, the large-scale North-South project has been implemented by 14 countries since 2000.