Azernews.Az

By Sabina Idayatova

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has said the completion of the Georgian section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway will take another two years.

"I am currently convinced that the construction of our section will not be completed either this or next year...but only in two years," Saakashvili said after visiting a construction site in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region.

"I had intended at the end of my presidency to open the railway by the end of 2013, but unfortunately this will not happen," the president said.

Saakashvili said that it is regrettable that "we are deprived of a direct road to Europe on speculation about the opening of the railway through Abkhazia".

He said that the negotiations on early opening of the railway through Abkhazia are actively underway.

"This is a Russian project and Moscow is once again going to be strengthened in the region, thus making it difficult for our development toward the West, including through the opening of a new road," Saakashvili said, calling on the Georgian government not to participate in this "dirty game".

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.

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, reconstruction work will be carried out on the Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Marabda railway 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.

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