Georgia says spent $200m to build its section of Baku-Kars railway
Georgia has spent $200 million on the construction of the Georgian section of Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, Regional Development and Infrastructure Minister Ramaz Nikolaishvili told Azerbaijan’s Trend news agency.
"We are working according to the schedule and the Georgian section of the railway stretching to the Turkish border will be put into operation [soon].
"Most of the work will be completed by 2012, and it will pave the way to Europe in 2013," Nikolaishvili said.
He said the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project is among the world’s 100 major projects.
The length of the railway is 245 km, 175 of which pass through Georgia's territory.
Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey signed an agreement on the railway project in February 2007 in Tbilisi, and construction of the railway began in November that year.
The throughput capacity of the railway will peak at 17 million tons of cargo per year. Initially, the capacity will be 6.5 million tons of consignments and 1 million passengers.