Minister: Construction work in Georgian section of BTK goes at high rates

Georgian Economy Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili said on December 24 that a meeting of the Georgian-Azerbaijani commission for the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway will be held soon.

"All works are going in accordance to plan and we are confident that all the commitments made by the Georgian side will be fulfilled in time," the minister said.

Despite problems caused by the weather, the work is going at a very high rate, Kvirikashvili said.

He further stressed that Georgia will commission all facilities on its section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway on time.

It is expected that the construction of the BTK railway, which is one of the most important parts of the Caspian transit corridor, will be complete in 2014. In the first stage, it will be able to carry 1 million passengers and 6.5 million tons of cargo. Future capacity of the BTK will increase to three million passengers and 20 million tons of cargo.

The total length of the BTK is 826 kilometers. After the commissioning of the railway, mutual trade between Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey will increase significantly, the total volume will exceed USD 10 billion per year. (Trend)