Georgia relies on additional investments of Azerbaijan into Baku-Kars project

PanARMENIAN.Net - Georgian part has started talks with Azerbaijan over allocation of additional investments for construction of the Baku - Tbilisi - Kars railway, told Lasha Zhvania, minister of economic development of Georgia.



According to him, several important issues, requiring additional investments have been discussed late last week at the sitting of the project implementation council. In particular, directions and standards of the 2.6 kilometer-long tunnel, which will be constructed at the Turkish-Georgian border, have been discussed. The construction works will start in 2010.



Agreement was reached over the conditions of construction of the Akhalkalaki station to transfer trains from Georgian to European track. "We have also discussed all details of the 30-kilometer long part in Georgia", Mr. Zhvania said.



According to him, Georgia has already received USD 87 million for construction of the Georgian part of the railway from Azerbaijan's USD 200 million worth credit for 20 years. The rest of the funds will be provided in the nearest future, Interfax reports.



Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey signed intergovernmental agreement on February 7, 2007 on establishing the railway corridor. In total 98 kilometres of new line will be built between Kars and Akhalkalaki, with 68 kilometres within Turkey and 30 kilometres in Georgia. The existing line from Akhalkalaki on to Tbilisi and Baku will be modernized. It is projected to reconstruct a 183-kilometer-long Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi part.



The preliminary cost of construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars corridor is estimated as USD 422 million. For the construction of the railroad on Georgian territory, Azerbaijan is providing a loan, repayable in 20 years Azerbaijani government finances the construction of the Georgian part. The credit will be repaid by means obtained through road operation.