The Azerbaijani Ministry of Finances does not exclude providing
additional finances for the Georgian section of Baku-Tbilisi-Kars
railway, Azerbaijani Minister of Finances Samir Sharifov said,
Business Georgia reports.
The minister did not clarify the sum. Azerbaijan State Oil Fund
provided a $200 million credit with an annual rate of 1% for 25 years
to Georgia.
The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project requires construction of a new 105 km
railway branch, 76 km of it will be in Turkey, 29 km - in Georgia.
Georgia will also reconstruct the Akhalkalaki-Marabda-Tbilisi railway
section to increase the cargo transport capacity to 15 million tons
annually. The project involves construction of a point in Akhalkalaki
for switch from Georgian rails to European.
Azerbaijani Minister of Transport Ziya Mamedov had said earlier that
the construction is planned to finish in the first half of 2012.
Despite the fixed dates the sides plan to speed up the construction
and finish the majority of work in late 2011. The maximum capacity of
the corridor will reach 17 million tons of cargo annually. At the
first stage the capacity will be 6.5 million tons annually.
