Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 22
By Temkin Jafarov - Trend:
Heads of the railway administrations of Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia met to discuss the acceleration of construction of the Qazvin-Rasht-Astara (Iran)-Astara (Azerbaijan) railway, which is a part of the International North-South Transport Corridor, Iran's Deputy Roads and Urban Development Minister, CEO of Iranian Railways Mohsen Pour Seyed Aghaie told Trend Oct. 22.
He said the construction of the railway's section running from the city of Qazvin to the city of Rasht should be completed next year.
The deputy minister said the works on preparation of railway tracks was completed as part of the construction, rails were laid at some sections, and this work on the remaining sections of the railway will be soon completed.
He said that during the trilateral meeting, it was agreed that Iran and Russia are jointly to construct the Resht-Astara (Iran) railway.
"The construction works will be financed by the Russian side on the basis of an agreement between Iran and Russia," Pour Seyed Aghaie said.
He noted that the construction of a border railway bridge between the Iranian and Azerbaijani Astara is to be financed by the Azerbaijani side.
"The construction of the bridge, as well as its eight-kilometer branch in the country will be financed and carried out by Azerbaijan," Pour Seyed Aghaie said.
He said the Azerbaijani side agreed to finance the construction, and the bridge's construction will start before late this year (Iranian new year starts on March 21).
The investments in the construction of the International North-South Transport Corridor are projected to stand at $400 million.
At the first stage, the North-South Transport Corridor is planned to transport 6 million metric tons of cargo per year, and 15-20 million metric tons of cargo in the future.
Edited by CN
