Baku, Azerbaijan, July 22
By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:
The logistics center in Turkey’s Kars province to be built within Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project is of an important strategic nature, a source in the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure of Turkey told Trend July 22.
The total cost of the project, which is at the completion stage, is 100 million Turkish liras, according to the ministry.
The source noted that revenues from the operation of the center may reach at least about $1 billion. This project will allow delivering goods from China to Europe within 12-15 days, which is 33-45 days faster than by sea transport, the ministry said.
The ministry also noted that passenger and cargo trains will also be repaired in the logistics center.
“Two water tanks with a total capacity of 1,600 square meters, a garage for cars with a total area of 1,300 square meters and a workshop for repairing trains with a total area of 7,000 square meters will be built on the territory of the logistics center,” the ministry said.
The logistics center in Kars will be commissioned in 2023, according to the ministry.
A 300,000 square meter land plot was allotted for the construction of the logistics center. Around 412,000 tons of cargo are expected to be transported through the logistics center annually.
An agreement on the creation of the logistics center was signed on July 19 last year during the visit of Head of Azerbaijan Railways CJSC Javid Gurbanov to the Kars province.
On October 30, 2017, a solemn ceremony on the occasion of the opening of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway was held at the Baku International Sea Trade Port.
The BTK railway is built on the basis of the Azerbaijani-Georgian-Turkish intergovernmental agreement. At the initial stage, the volume of freight traffic will be at the level of 6.5 million tons of cargo, and up to one million passengers will be transported through this railway.
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