PanARMENIAN.Net
Kars-Akhalkalaki-Baku railway project likely to be signed in February
26.01.2007 19:04 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The final intergovernmental agreement on
construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Akhalkalaki-Kars (BTAK) railway link
is expected to be concluded in February. Azerbaijan Transport Ministry
said the Presidents of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey are scheduled to
meet in Tbilisi to sign three documents – a framework agreement, terms
agreement and loan agreement. The Ministry described the discussions
held by the Azeri and Georgian delegations as fruitful. The parties
agreed on the amount and procedure of the loan Azerbaijan is going to
lend to Georgia for funding construction of Georgian part of the
railway line. As per the agreement, Azerbaijan is going to extend a
$200 mln unsecured loan to Georgia’s Marabda-Kars Railroad LLC for 25
years at 1% interest rate annually. The parties agreed that
construction of Georgia parts of the project (98 km) will commence by
July, 2007. The preliminary cost of the project is estimated at US
$420 mln, reports APA.