TendersInfo
September 5, 2009 Saturday

Azerbaijan : Kars-Akhalkalaki railway construction problems

Construction of the Karsi-Akhalkalaki railway is proceeding very
slowly. In 2009 it has stopped several times. Officially the first
suspension was due to a very severe winter at the construction site,
then a landslide at the place where the tunnel should have been built
was blamed for another. Later some rumours appeared in the media that
Russia was putting pressure on Azerbaijan to delay the project, but
these have not been confirmed.

Azerbaijan has allotted USD 200 million in credit to the project for
25 years at a one percent interest rate. According to the Azeri media
by the end of August 2009 only USD 33 million of this had actually
been disbursed and the 100 million is planned for the end of this
year. Georgian officials still express confidence that the part of the
construction on Georgian territory will be completed by 2012.

The Karsi-Akhalkalaki railway was fiercely opposed by Armenia, which
suggested that the existing Karsi-Gumri (Armenia) tracks could be used
instead as it needs only slight renovation. The normalising of
Turkish-Armenian relations will eventually mean that this railway will
be opened, but it is unlikely that cargo there could be transported to
Azerbaijan until the Karabakh problem is settled. Therefore there is
still a need for the Karsi-Akhalkalaki railway, and hopefully even
with certain delays the project will be implemented.
Ltd.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress