In Istanbul, March 1 starts fifth tripartite meeting of the Coordinating Board for the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway. The two-day meeting of the transport ministers of Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan to discuss issues related to ensuring the completion of construction work on schedule - the beginning of 2014.
The press service of the Ministry of Transport of Azerbaijan noted that the meeting will discuss mainly the implementation of the project and the challenges and issues related to the development of transport links the three countries.
The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway will link the three countries and is designed to improve not only their transport and economic links, but all the countries along the corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia.
According to Turan, construction and renovation work on the territory of Georgia and Turkey are from 2007. Initially, the project cost is 422 million dollars, of which 202 million dollars was to be spent on construction of the Georgian section, $ 220 million - Turkey. However, later on the basis of a dubious argument value of the Georgian section of the road, which is the main donor of Azerbaijan, and has grown to $ 750 million. The coalition Georgian Dream immediately after the victory in the parliamentary elections last October, immediately pushed corruption claims about the cost of the project. This issue was discussed during a visit to Baku of the Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili at the end of the year. Behind closed doors, the parties agreed on the "unloading" of the project of extra money, but in what way is not reported.
BTK was the topic on the agenda of the meeting of the presidents of Azerbaijan and Georgia in Baku on 27 February.
It is expected that this railway will carry up to 25 million tons of cargo a year.
For reference: the length of the railway from the station Akhalkalaki (Georgia) to Kars (Turkey) is 98 km. In this case, 30 km is on the territory of Georgia, and the other 68 km is in Turkish. The project will upgrade some sections of the railway in the area from Akhalkalaki to Tbilisi. - 08D-
Economics
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