Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 13
By Anvar Mammadov - Trend:
Work on creating the infrastructure of the North-South international transport corridor will be completed in the shortest possible time, Azerbaijani Ministry of Economic Development told Trend.
Previously, it was planned to complete the main part of the infrastructure work in 2016.
The ministry said that it is planned to build the Astara (Iran) - Astara (Azerbaijan) railway line, a cargo handling terminal, as well as jointly construct the border bridge within the framework of the project
"The Iranian part of the Astara (Iran) - Astara (Azerbaijan) railway line is two kilometers long, and, according to the contract, the Iranian side will be engaged in its construction," the ministry said. "The length of the Azerbaijani part of the road is more than eight kilometers, and our side will build it. A cargo handling terminal, the construction of which was taken over by the Iranian side, will be also built on the territory of Astara (Iran) according to the agreement."
A railway bridge with a length of 100 meters will be built by Azerbaijani company co-funded by both countries, that is on an equal footing.
The tender to determine the contractor for the construction work will be announced in Azerbaijan in the near future.
The ministry said that the implementation of the North-South international transport corridor is of great political and economic importance. The project will greatly increase transportation between Iran and Azerbaijan.
"Currently, freight transportation is carried out by motor transport," the ministry said. "Some 600,000 tons of cargo is transported in average during the year. After commissioning of the corridor, it is planned to bring the cargo transportation to 5 million tons per year in the first stage and up to 10 million tons in the second stage."
"Accordingly, the volume of cargo transportation in the first phase will increase by almost 10 times," said the ministry.
In addition, it was agreed to discuss the simplification of customs and border-crossing procedures, as well as regarding the transition of Bilasuvar and Astara border checkpoints to the round-the-clock work in the near future, the ministry said.
Edited by CN
