Azerbaijan to construct new airport

By Nigar Orujova

A new airport will be constructed in Azerbaijan's Alat settlement, Head of the International Relations and Information Department of the State Committee for Urban Planning and Architecture Jahangir Gojayev said.

He also noted that the airport construction is planned to start in the near future. It is aimed to resolve several issues. It will smooth passenger and cargo transportation in the capital.

Currently, there are six international airports operating in Azerbaijan, including the Heydar Aliyev International Airport in Baku and the airports in Nakhchivan, Ganja, Lankaran, Zagatala and Gabala.

Gojayev also stressed the importance of establishing an international trade seaport in Alat settlement.

Major construction works underway in Alat suggest that the settlement may turn into a city soon.

In the future, the settlement will develop into a city, as construction of the Trade Seaport, and the logistics center will make it necessary to control the settlement as an independent city, he added.

A ferry terminal at the international trade seaport was opened on September 22. The terminal is part of the first stage of construction of the trade seaport complex.

Construction work in the complex, which started in November 2010, is carried out in three stages.

The first stage of the project involves the construction of two ferries and three cargo berths for receiving containers and conventional bulk carriers; the second stage of the project envisions the construction of three additional cargo berths, and the third one concerns the construction of two more cargo berths.

In the first stage, the port will be capable of handling up to 10 million tons of cargo; in the second stage, its capacity will reach 17 million tons of cargo, and in the last stage, the port will handle 25 million tons of cargo.

In addition to a logistics center, a free economic zone will be established in the territory of the port in the future. The construction works will cost the Azerbaijani government more than $1.1 billion.

The Transport Ministry plans to commission the new port by the end of 2015.

/AzerNews/