Over $431 million invested in Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project

Around $431.3 million was spent in 2007-2012 as part of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway construction project, the report of the Azerbaijani Transport Ministry said on Saturday. In particular, around $151.5 million was used from the Azerbaijani government's loan in 2012. Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway is being constructed on the basis of the Georgian-Azerbaijani-Turkish inter-state agreement.

Azerbaijan allocated a loan worth USD 775 million to construct the Georgian section. The State Oil Fund finances this project in accordance with the presidential decree on 'Implementation of measures within Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project', dating February 21, 2007. The State Oil Fund has allocated USD 403.3 million since the beginning of financing the project and until October 1, 2012.

It is planned to construct a new 105-kilometre railway section as part of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project. Moreover, 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.
(Trend)