Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

The logistics center that is being built in Kars as part of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway project will be commissioned in October 2018, Turkey’s Ministry of Transport, Maritime and Communications told Trend on August 7.

The project cost is estimated at about 94.3 million Turkish liras ($26.6 million).

Annually, 412,000 tons of cargo will be transported through the logistics center, which is constructed on the land plot of 300,000 square meters.

The ministry added that 16-km railway lines will be built in the territory of the logistics center, which will be connected to the Kars-Erzurum railway.

Agreement on creation of the logistics center was signed on July 19, 2017 during the visit of Head of Azerbaijan Railways CJSC Javid Gurbanov to the Kars Province in order to get familiarized with the progress in the BTK project.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway, an important ring in the middle corridor of the modern Silk Road, will be operational by autumn, increasing the connectivity among the regional countries.

The BTK railway is being constructed on the basis of the Georgian-Azerbaijani-Turkish intergovernmental agreement. Eighty seven percent of the BTK railway has been constructed in Turkey.

The railway, construction of which began in 2008 is aimed to improve economic relations between the three countries and gain foreign direct investment by connecting Europe and Asia.

Peak capacity of the railway will be 17 million tons of cargo per year. At the initial stage, this figure will be one million passengers and 6.5 million tons of cargo.

--

Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz