BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 24
By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:
Construction of a logistics center in Turkey’s Kars province, which is of a strategic nature, will be completed in 2021, a source in the Turkish Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure told Trend Feb. 17.
Last year, 161.8 million Turkish liras ($26.7 million) were spent as part of construction of the logistics center, according to the ministry.
"This year, another 60 million Turkish liras ($9.9 million) will be invested in the construction of the logistics center," the ministry said. "It was noted that no foreign loans were attracted for the construction of the logistics center in Kars."
The total cost of the project, which is being completed, is 221.8 million Turkish liras ($36.9 million), according to the ministry.
The ministry said that the income from the operation of the center may be at least about $1 billion.
"Two water tanks with a total volume of 1,600 square meters, a garage for cars with a total area of 1,300 square meters, a workshop for the repair of trains with a total area of 7,000 square meters will be built on the territory of the logistics center," the ministry noted. "Passenger and cargo trains will also be repaired in the logistics center."
A 300,000 square meter land plot was allotted for the construction of the logistics center.
Around 412,000 tons of cargo are expected to be transported through the logistics center annually.
An agreement on the creation of the logistics center was signed on July 19 last year, during the visit of Head of Azerbaijan Railways CJSC Javid Gurbanov to the Kars province.
On Oct. 30, 2017, a solemn ceremony on the occasion of the opening of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway was held at the Baku International Sea Trade Port.
The BTK railway is built on the basis of the Azerbaijani-Georgian-Turkish intergovernmental agreement. At the initial stage, the volume of freight traffic will be at the level of 6.5 million tons of cargo, as well as up to one million passengers will be transported through this railway.
($1= 6.0579 liras on Feb. 17)
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