Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 10 / Trend D.Khatinoglu/
Iran will start construction of Inceburun-Gorgan railroad in about 40 days (from beginning of Iranian Azar month), Iran's Minister of Road and Urbanization Ali Nikzad announced on Monday, the Iranian IRIB news agency reported.
Nikzad said that the 80 km-length railroad would connect Iran's railway net to Turkmenistan's.
"About 130 billion rials (equals to $98 million based on official USD rate in Iran) are required for construction of this railroad, which would be a part of Iran-Turkmenistan-Kazakhstan railway.
Nikzad's statement came amidst Turkmenistan's cancellation of a railway contract with Iran worth $700 million on Sept. 8.
Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has agreed to a proposal on the advisable termination of the relevant contract signed with Pars Energy company (Iran) and instructed to implement the project independently, the Turkmen government said on Saturday.
According to the information, a contract for the 900 km-length Bereket Etrek railway construction was signed with this Iranian company in January 2010 which was to be completed in December last year.
"However, the operations were not completed by the deadline despite the fact that the Turkmen side fulfilled its partnership commitments by assisting Pars Energy," a statement said.
The project implementation will open the way to the Central Asia and the Persian Gulf to Europe and Asia. Similar opportunity will appear to transit the goods from the countries in South and South-East Asia, the Indian Ocean to the North and East Europe - through Iran, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Russia.