BTK draws to completion

By Azernews

By Nigar Abbasova

The implementation of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project, which will open a new rail corridor from the Caspian Sea to Europe, nears its completion.

Turkish Minister of Transport, Shipping and Communications Ahmet Arslan, said that Ankara is determined to complete construction of the Turkish section of the BTK, adding that work on the implementation of the project nears completion.

The project which will practically exclude the need for sea transportation is expected to bring the entire region closer to Europe.

Turkey places huge emphasis on the project, as it will contribute to turning its Kars province into a trade center. Moreover, the country is also planning to construct a logistics center in the Kars province within the framework of the project.

Arslan mentioned that reception of applications for participation in a tender on the construction of BTK’s logistics centre in Kars region will be completed within 2 weeks. He added that the country has already launched a project on the creation of “smart cities”, while Kars will become a third city that corresponds to the concept.

Smart city concept stands for an urban region that is highly advanced in terms of overall infrastructure, while information technology is a basis for providing essential services to residents.

Being constructed under a Georgian-Azerbaijani-Turkish intergovernmental agreement, BTK is expected to expand multi-modal transportation opportunities, ensure the growth of passenger and freight transportation and boost the transit potential of the regional countries.

The peak capacity of the railway will be 17 million tons of cargo per year.

The project is expected to further strengthen the neighborly and fraternal relations among Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan, and enable the countries to supply domestically produced goods to the world markets.