No more truck queues to Kazbegi, Millions invested to improve transit

Georgia is improving its roads and transit services to make the journey more comfortable for thousands of truck drivers who carry goods through Georgia’s Kazbegi region.

A new local company named Murphy Kazbegi will implement a $2.5 million USD project in Pansheti village, Kazbegi, which envisaged building a large parking bay, hotel, fast-food area, new road and bridge for the 3,500-odd truck drivers who passed along the on Pasanauri-Natakhtari route.

The two-stage project aimed to avoid the lengthy traffic jams on the Pasanauri-Natakhtari section of road, financial director of Murphy Kazbegi, Ioseb Jincharadze told Agenda.ge.

About 3,500-3,600 heavy vehicles move on that road per month heading towards Turkey, Azerbaijan and Armenia directions. Because of slow customs services on the Russian side, vehicles have to stop on the side of the road and wait for their turn to go. They used to stay in a queue for about one week,” he said.

By building a parking bay, hotel and fast food places for truck drivers it will be much more comfortable for them to wait until their customs has cleared,” he added.

The first stage of the project involved building a parking area for 200 heavy vehicles and a storehouse. This was due to be completed by September 2017.

The second stage envisioned building a 20-bed hotel and fast food restaurants and this will be done by April 2018, said Jincharadze.

Georgia’s National Agency of State Property offered 52,932 m2 of land to Murphy Kazbegi to carry out the project. The company will own the land for 49 years.

As well as the two-stage developments, Murphy Kazbegi was also obliged to build a bridge and a road measuring 2km that was suitable for heavy vehicles, as the current road was unable to do so. The road would be fitted "with all necessary communications” including electricity, water and natural gas for road lighting and more.

Jincharadze said he understood the Georgian Government was planning to build a customs checkpoint in Kazbegi "which will make transit flow on Georgian territory much easier”. (Agenda.ge)