Azerbaijan, Baku, 21 May / corr Trend A.Aliyev / Construction of the georgian section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway will commence in June, Gurban Nazirov, the senior engineerof the Azerbaijan State Railway, said in Baku on 20 May.
So far, project documentation on 8km-long section of the 29km section has been developed and submited to Georgia for the approval. The construction will be carried out by the winner of the tender - Azerinshaatservis, an Azerbaijani company
The ceremony to commence the construction of Turkey's section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway is scheduled for June 2008.
Within the framework of the project, 76-km railway section will be constructed in Turkey, which requires 380mln Turkish liras.
The project is expected to be completed in 2009. Marmaris project (construction of a tunnel under the Bosporus) will also be completed by that time. That will enable to open a railway line to Europe.
Budget of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars for 2008 totals $107mln.
Azerinshaatservis, an Azerbaijani construction company, which won the tender for construction of the Georgian section of the railway, has already completed its preparations.
The total cost of the contract with Azerinshaatservis makes up $79mln. Construction is expected to be completed by 1 October 2009.
Financing for construction and design work in Georgia, is being carried out through the Azerbaijani credit of $200mln.
The Baku- Tbilisi-Akhalkalaki- Kars project includes the construction of 105km-railway lines, with 76 km section running via Turkey and 29 km section via Georgia. Moreover, 183 km section of Akhalkalaki-Marabda-Tbilisi railway will be also reconstructed to improve the carrying capacity to 15mln tons of cargo per year. It is planned to build in Akhalkalaki a place for the transition of trains from the track existing in Georgia to the European one. The project is estimated at $422mln and taking into consideration the accompanying infrastructure its cost will comprise $600mln.