A number of events affecting improvement of indicators in this sector took place in transport sector of Azerbaijan in August.
Construction of two additional lines on the Hajigabul-Kurdamir highway continued. The Hajigabul-Kurdamir highway with length of 80 kilometers covers the section from 120 km of the Baku-Gazakh-border with Georgia highway.
Azerbaijani Transport Ministry's JSC Azeryolservis is working on the reconstruction of the Gala-Shuvalan-Pirallahi highway. The length of the highway after reconstruction will hit 22.7 km, width - 28 meters. The first 6.9 kilometers of the highway will be a six-lane and the remaining 15.8 kilometers - four-lane. Construction of road junctions at different sites is envisaged within the project.
JSC "Azeryolservis" of the Transport Ministry of Azerbaijan continued construction of Bilgah-Novkhani-Sumgayit highway, which will link the northern territories of the capital with the Baku-Shamakhi-Yevlakh highway. This highway will pass through suburban settlement of Bilgah, Nardaran Kurdakhani, Fatmayi and Novkhani. Phased work was conducted at 14 km section of the highway from Bilgah to Kurdakhani.
Ganja Automobile Plant (Azerbaijan) and holding AMKODOR (Belarus) signed a memorandum on co-production of road construction, utilities, snow removal, airport, forest, agricultural and other specialized machinery and equipment in Azerbaijan
"Azerbaijan Airlines" opened a new domestic flight Nakhchivan-Zagatala.
A consultant is being involved in Azerbaijan to study the opportunity of introducing toll roads in Azerbaijan within the Asian Development Bank's program (ADB) to develop the road network in the country. According to "Azeryolservis" company under the Azerbaijani Transport Ministry, a consultant must examine the roads, traffic, road surface and determine needs to improve the roads for the next 10-year period.
Transport sector of Azerbaijan transported 140.8 million tons of cargo in January-August, which is 3.8 percent more than the same period of 2011, State Committee on Statistics said.
Some 74.1 percent of the goods from the total amount fell to the private sector.
Some 55.6 percent of goods were transported by road, 27.6 percent - pipelines, 10.8 percent - rail and 6 percent - by sea.
Over 1.03 billion people were transported by passenger transport in January-August, which is 8.6 percent more than in January-August 2011. Most of the passengers were transported by road transport (87.4 percent) and metro (12.3 percent).
Automobile transport takes the lion share in the transport field of the country. Some 78.2 million tons of cargo was transported by road transport, which is 7.7 percent more than in January-August 2011. The volume of passenger traffic totaled 903.3 million (increase by 8.7 percent). Some 96.4 percent of the passengers were transported by buses and 3.6 percent - by cars.
Freight turnover by road during the period grew by 7.7 percent compared to the same period of 2011, and passenger turnover - by 9.7 percent.
The Azerbaijan State Railway Department (ASRD) transported 15.2 million tons of various cargo or 7.5 percent more than the same period of 2011. The number of loaded carriages made up 683in average per day and unloaded - 550. Average daily load of carriages in the northern direction is 27,200 tons and in western direction 6,400 tons, but in the southern direction - 4,100 tons.
Some 8.5 million tons of cargo was transported by sea in January-August, which is 3.9 percent more than in January-August 2011. The entire volume of transported cargo fell to international operations. The volume of cargo handled at ports of Azerbaijan in January-August amounted to 8.1 million tons, which is 1 percent more than in January-August last year.
Some 60.9 percent of cargo shipping fell on oil and oil products, while 39.1 percent on dry cargo. Volume of international transit cargos processed in January-August increased by 3 percent. As of Sept. 1, 2012, 60,500 tons of cargo left in the ports for import, which is 46.1 percent more compared to the same period of last year.
In January-August, the export via oil pipelines made up 29.8 million tons. During this period, 76.4 percent or 22.7 million tons of oil was transported via the BTC (data provided by the State Statistics Committee). In January-August Sangachal terminal transported 2.1 million tons of Turkmen oil via BTC.
Transportation via gas pipelines made up 12.7 billion cubic meters or 2.4 percent more compared to January-August 2011. Some 20.7 percent of the transported gas fell on South Caucasus Pipeline. Some 2.6 billion cubic meters of gas was transported via this pipeline.
Some 1.1 million passengers were transported by air transport, which is 14.8 percent more than the same period in 2011. Some 1.4 percent of traffic by this kind of transport fell to private sector.
The volume of cargo transportation by air was 37,300 tons.
Some 126.7 million people were transported by the subway, increasing by 8.2 percent.
Some 33 million tons of cargo was transported through the Eurasian transport corridor at the territory of Azerbaijan in January-July 2012, which is 5.4 percent more than the same period of 2011. Some 151.1 million people were transported through the corridor, which is 7.9 percent more than in January-July 2011.