Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili has expressed interest in a fast construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway.

"We are speeding up the completion of construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway to participate in the export of goods and troops out of Afghanistan," Ivanishvili said June 26 at a briefing after a meeting with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

Azerbaijani, Turkish and Georgian transport ministers are meeting in the Turkish city of Kars to discuss the implementation of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project on June 26-28.

On the eve of the meeting with his Turkish and Georgian counterparts, Azerbaijani Transport Minister Ziya Mammadov said Armenia will not be able to participate in the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project until it stops the occupation of Azerbaijani territories, Dogan news agency reported.

"Only after the end of the occupation of Azerbaijani lands Georgia, Turkey and Azerbaijan can think about the admission of Armenia to the participation in the project," Mammadov said.

Deputy head of Azerbaijan Railways JSC Gurban Nasirov said earlier this month that the railway will be fully commissioned by late 2014. During 2014, start-up and adjustment operations will be conducted, organizational and administrative issues solved, he said.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway is being built in accordance with an inter-governmental agreement reached by Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. The railway will increase the flow of containers and other types of cargo from Asia to Europe. Its throughput capacity 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.

Azerbaijan has allocated a loan worth $775 million for the construction of the Georgian section of the railway. Funding for the project from the State Oil Fund is carried out in accord with the 2007 presidential decree on taking measures within the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project.

It is planned to construct a new 105 kilometer branch railway as part of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project. In addition, the section of the Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Marabda railway will be reconstructed in Georgia, which will increase its capacity to 15 million tons of cargo per year. It is envisioned to build a center in Akhalkalaki for the transition of trains from the existing train tracks in Georgia to the European ones.

It is expected that around 30 million tons of cargo a year will be transported via the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line, which will become a direct route to the European rail network.