Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 18 / Trend A. Akhundov /
The Azerbaijani State Committee for Urban Planning and Architecture does not think it appropriate to build a bridge via the Baku Bay, chairman of the State Committee Abbas Alasgarov told media today.
He added that a road tunnel connecting the end of the boulevard from Bailovo settlement to Zikh settlement will be laid through the sea bottom within the operations to expand the Baku Boulevard.
"The tunnel will have a few ways to the city and solve traffic problems in the capital," he said. "If there is such a tunnel, constructing a bridge via the bay will not be required."
He said that from an aesthetic point of view, the bridge over Baku bay will spoil the city appearance.
The Azerbaijani Transport Ministry and the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) signed a protocol for preparing a feasibility study for constructing the bridge over the bay in late 2009.
According to preliminary estimates, the cost of building the Baku Bay bridge will be $2.5 billion.
The government of the Republic of Korea allocated $ 1.6 million in 2009-2011 to implement KOICA project.
The length of the main part of the bridge to be built over the Caspian Sea from Shikhovo settlement to Zikh settlement will be 13.5-15 km. The length of bridge with communications that will be connected with the Baku ring road, may reach 26 kilometers. Thus, the bridge will be the second-longest in the world after the Chinese one.
The construction will be completed in five years.
