KARS - TBILISI RAILWAY PROJECT REVISED AND WILL BE CONSTRUCTED IN AZERBAIJAN
Technical delegations from Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan met last week in the Turkish Transportation Ministry building in Ankara and they decided to put into force a new double-track railway project that will connect Turkey's eastern Kars province to Azerbaijani capital Baku, via Georgia's Tbilisi city, in an effort to revive the historical Silk Road.
The parties already have a cooperation project called Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) to transport Caspian oil into European markets via Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. This time the three countries will make a significant investment in transportation sector by implementing a double-track railway project.
The parties are planning to raise a loan from international markets to finance the construction of the Kars-Tbilisi-Baku railway which is estimated to cost almost 500 million U.S. dollars. Meanwhile, interested parties agreed that Turkey will carry out feasibility studies on the project for a total cost of 1 million U.S. dollars.
The project is included in Turkish Railways, Seaports and Airports Construction Directorate General's investments portfolio for 2005.
The railway will be 180 kilometers in length and nearly 70 kilometers part of it will be on Turkish soil, 30 kilometers on Georgian territory and 80 kilometers in Azerbaijan.
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