Azerbaijan and Georgia have signed a deal in Baku. Azerbaijan will
provide Georgia with a loan worth $575 million for construction of the
Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, the connector of the Azerbaijani, Georgian
and Turkish railways, 1news.az reports.
The loan was provided for 25 years with a rate of 5%. Regardless of
the rate payments, Georgia will pay commission fees worth 0.5%, which
must not exceed 20,000 Georgian laris.
The loan will finance construction and rehabilitation of the
Tetritskaro-Akhalkalaki railway line, construction of the Akhalkalaki
train station and construction of other railway infrastructure
facilities.
Kartsakhi-Marabda issued the credit, it is not a state debt. The loan
will be paid off using income from realization of the railway project.
The first loan was worth $200 million, provided for 25 years at a rate of 1%.
Adjustments in the Azerbaijani-Georgian deal on financing, designing,
construction, reconstruction and rehabilitation of the
Marabda-Kratsakhi (Turkish border) line increased the credit to $775
million.
The Azerbaijani State Oil Fund finances construction of the
Baku-Tbilisi-Kars. The project includes construction of a new
1059-kilometer line, 76 km of which will run through Turkey, 29 km –
through Georgia.
Georgia will reconstruct the Akhalkalaki-Marabda-Tbilisi railway
section. Akhalkalaki will have a switch from Georgian to European
gauge.
Azerbaijani Transport Minister Ziya Mamedov said that they plan to
finish construction in late 2012. The corridor will be launched in
early 2013.
The railway line will have a capacity of 17 million tons of cargo. The
line will transport 1 million passengers and 6.5 million tons of cargo
at the first stage.
