Azerbaijan, Baku, 25 May / Trend A.Akhundov /
Nothing can hinder the implementation of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project, the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia Giorgi Kvirikashvili told reporters on Saturday in Gabala, commenting on the delay of the project.
"The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway is one of the most important projects for Georgia. Georgian government believes the project must be continued. There were some technical problems. There were some problems with the coordinates of the project, which were refined by the Parliament of Georgia. [...] The work on construction of the Akhalkalaki station is already in progress. In few days, the work on the construction of a tunnel to connect Turkey and Georgia will be continued. I want to emphasize that this project is of strategic importance. No problems threaten the implementation of this project," Kvirikashvili said.
Azerbaijan provided a loan worth $775 million for construction of the Georgian section. Funding for this project from the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan is carried out in accordance with a presidential decree on the 'Implementation of measures within Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project' dated Feb.21, 2007. Some $431.3 million was allocated until January 2013 for financing the project.
It is planned to construct a new 105 kilometre branch railway as part of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project. In addition, the section of the Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Marabda railway will be reconstructed in Georgia which will increase its capacity to 15 million tons of cargo per year. It is planned to build a centre in Akhalkalaki for the transition of trains from the existing train tracks in Georgia to the European one.
Peak capacity of the corridor will be 17 million tons of cargo. This figure will be at the level of one million passengers and 6.5 million tons of cargo in the initial stages.
In future, with completion of the Marmara project (construction of a tunnel under the Bosporus), access to Europe will be provided using the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway.