Kars-Akhalkalaki-Baku not economic but military-political project

PanARMENIAN.Net - "Doubts in advisability of the Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku have not vanished during the recent years. Not only Russia and Armenia but also Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey - the principals to the contract - voice apprehension," said Andrey Areshev, an expert at the Strategic Culture Foundation. The main line construction expenses will be compensated no earlier than in several dozens of years, according to him.



"Assessing the project in June 2006, Georgia's State Minister for Economic Reform Kakha Bendukidze said he doesn't expect good profit from the KATB. Co-chair of the Armenian-Turkish Business Council Kaan Soyak was more sincere to say that the project has no economic basis, because similar Kars-Gyumri main line already exists," the expert noted.



Areshev underscored that Turkey and Azerbaijan's interest in establishment of immediate overland communication is not economic but military-political. "The Baku-Ankara relations are acquiring the shape of a strategic union. Meanwhile, Georgian politicians differ on expedience of the project. Active Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Baku-Tbilis-Erzrum pipelines enriched Georgia's state treasury with a mere $50 million against $300 million expected. Economist Giya Khukhashvili said Georgia should be least of all interested in the KATB, since the income brought by Batumi and Poti ports, serving as transit for Azeri and Turkish cargo, will be lost," he said.



"Politicized throughout and economically unpromising transport projects will never become the basis of peace and stability in the region. "In this case Russia could save the situation by offering new schemes of communication. If unblocked, the railway communication between Armenia and Turkey connecting Russia, Turkey and Iran would convey an impulse to trade and economic development of all states in the region in the framework of North-South transport corridor," the expert said.



The KATB is supposed to be a 105-km link (76 km in Turkey, 29 km in Georgia) plus reconstruction of 183-km segment of the Akhalkalaki-Maradba-Tbilisi line in order to bring the traffic capacity up to 15 mln tons per year.



The project cost fluctuates from $400 up to $800 million and even $1 billion.