Ivanishvili: the construction of the Baku-Akhalkalaki-Kars railway will accelerate

Tbilisi/03.07.13/Turan-BSPRESS: The pace of construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway will accelerate significantly, said today the Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili.

"After the new management all these processes were activated," he said and added that there is no reason to think that there are attempts to prevent the implementation of the project, he said at a press conference in Tbilisi.

Earlier, in an interview with the newspaper "Resonance" Ivanishvili said that the construction of the Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku produces a number of issues. However, he noted that "at some point this (construction project) may not be useful for us, and needs to be regulated,"  he said.

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili in response, said that the failure of the construction of the railway "will distance  Georgia from Europe, and will connect with Russia."

The project of creation the BTK railway transport corridor includes the construction of Kars-Akhalkalaki with length of 98 kilometers, 68 kilometers  of which is at Turkey’s territory, and  30 miles is at Georgian territory. For the construction and renovation of Georgian section of BTC Azerbaijan allocated for Georgia a preferential credit totaling $ 775 million.

According to forecasts, every year through a new railway branch, which has direct access to the European rail network, and 30 million tons of cargo will be transported. -02D-