Infrastructure

Infrastructure

Baku-Kars Railway Project Coordination Council to meet this week

25 January 2010 16:05 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Rashad Suleymanov â€“ APA-Economics. The Coordination Council of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway Project is scheduled to meet in Tbilisi on Jan. 28-29, said Azerbaijanâ€™s Ministry of Transport.

The meeting will discuss the results of activities, Marabda-Kartsakhi railroad budget, Azerbaijanâ€™s loan tranche to Georgia etc.

The three countries agreed in February 2007 to build a rail line linking the Azerbaijani capital Baku, the Georgian capital Tbilisi and the Turkish city of Kars. Construction work commenced on November 21, 2007.
As per the agreement, Azerbaijan undertook to extend a $200mln loan to Georgiaâ€™s Marabda-Kartsakhi Railroad LLC for 25 years at 1% interest rate annually. The loan will be spent on construction of a 29km long railroad in Georgia, a ST-2 wheel base in Turkish-Georgian border and rehabilitation of old railway.
The project costs more than $600 million. Construction of railroads is slated for operation in late 2011.
A 76km long railway will be laid in Turkey as part of Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Rail Link