Incident

Home page

Incident

Irakli Ezugbaya: Carrying capacity of Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku to be 15m tonnes

13 January 2007 09:56 (UTC +04:00)

He said that Marabda-Akhalkalaki part of the railway needs rehabilitation for implementing the project.
â€œThis part should be rehabilitated to increase carrying capacity. 23km-Akhalkalaki-Kartsakhi (Turkish border) part to be reconstructed will completely meet international standards,â€? he said.
"Georgian Railway" Ltd. also intends to construct machine-shop for changing parts of wagons in Akhalkalaki.
The Director general added that the construction of the new railway will be begin at the end of the second term or beginning of the third term this year and the rehabilitation will begin earlier.
â€œLoads sent from Kazakhstan and China to Europe, are also expected to be transported,â€? he said. Georgian Minister of Economic development Georgy Arveladze and Azerbaijani Transport Minister Ziya Mammadov are holding negotiations on implementation of the project in Tbilisi on January 12-13.
Georgy Arveladze told the journalists that Azerbaijan International Bank is expected to allocate credits for 25 years for construction and repair of 149km-railway. According to the first prognostications it is possible to prolong the period of credit to be cost $220m. The commitments on the credit will not be undertaken by â€œGeorgian Railwayâ€? LTD, but another company to be established specially only for this project. The annual crediting rate is expected to be 1%. While speaking about the planning of the project, the minister stressed that Georgia will use the project worked by Turkey. It should be mentioned that, Georgian Railway announced tender for the planning of the project of Georgian side.
â€œCommission of the railway is of great importance for us, as the result, we will strengthen our relations with Turkey,â€? the minister said.
It should be noted that the protocol on the results of the negotiations is expected to be signed between two ministers. All the details of the project will be reflected in the document. The final agreement is expected to be signed in the level of the transport ministers of the two countries and governmental leaders. /APA/