Largest Caspian port in Baku to be fully built in 2015

The construction of a dry-cargo terminal at the international seaport in Alat, which is south of Baku will be completed in 2015, Transport Minister Ziya Mammadov said during a cabinet meeting on social-economic development in the first half of 2013, under the chairmanship of Azerbaijani President.

According to him, the ferry terminal and the road is planned to be put into operation in 2014.

"The construction of the largest and most modern international sea trade port in the Caspian Sea, is successfully moving along. The 7.5 kilometer long channel with seven meters of depth has already been opened. In addition, the construction of on land facilities are also continuing." Mammadov noted.

The construction of the new international port was launched in November of 2010. It is located 65 kilometers South of Baku.

The construction of the new international sea port in Alat village will be implemented in three stages. The first stage of the project encompasses the construction of two ferry and three cargo berths. Cargo ships, "Ro-Ro" type vessels and ordinary (universal) bulk carriers will be recieved there. The second stage of the project envisages the construction of thee additional cargo berths, the third stage consists of the construction of two supplementary cargo berths. The port will be able to receive about 11.6 million tons of cargo per year.

Mammadov talked about the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway. In particular, he noted that a 2 kilometer long tunnel has been laid on the Turkish-Georgian border. Its total length will be 4.2 kilometers.

"Despite construction delays in Turkey and Georgia, construction will be completed in 2014 in areas with difficult weather conditions.

It is planned to construct new 105 kilometer branch of the railway. Moreover, the Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Marabda railway in Georgia will be reconstructed, which will increase its capacity to 15 million tons of cargo per year. It is also to planned to construct a station for transporting trains from the existing tracks in Georgia to the European one.

As it is expected, 30 million tons of cargo per year will be transported via the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars highway, which will have direct access to the European railway network.

With completion of the "Marmaray" project (the construction of tunnel under Bosphorus) realization, access to Europe will be provided via Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway.


/Trend/