Azerbaijan allocates over $460 million to BTK railway project
By Jamila Babayeva
The State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) has allocated $ 464.1million to construct the Georgian section of the project since the beginning of financing Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project, the fund reported.
SOFAZ allocated $32.7 million in 2013 and $151.5 million in 2012 to finance the implementation of this project.
The BTK railway is a regional rail link project that connects Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey.
Azerbaijan has allocated a loan worth $775 million to the construction of the Georgian section of the railway. This project is being financed by the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan.
This came after Azerbaijan's president issued a decree on the 'Implementation of measures within the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project', dated February 21, 2007.
The total length of the BTK is 826 kilometers (about 513 miles). After commissioning the railway, mutual trade between Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey will increase significantly and the total volume will exceed $ 10 billion per year.
The first pilot train will run via the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway at the end of 2014, Azerbaijani Transport Minister Ziya Mammadov said recently.