Gharibashvili on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway Project

The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project is set to be completed in 2024. This was announced by Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili during his annual report.

Gharibashvili stated that 86 percent of the work has been completed, and the construction of the railway is progressing actively. “We have already reached an agreement with our friendly country Azerbaijan, and $100 million has been allocated to complete this project. In two years, the project will officially open,” Gharibashvili said, as reported by Aliq Media.

It is worth noting that just days ago, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev mentioned at the international conference “Along the Middle Corridor: Geopolitics, Security and Economy” that Azerbaijan’s investments in the expansion project of the Georgian section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway will exceed $100 million.

Furthermore, the railway was put into operation on October 30, 2017. Within the framework of this project, a 98 km-long railway line was constructed from Kars to Akhalkalak, with 68 km passing through Turkey and 30 km through Georgia. Additionally, the Akhalkalak-Tbilisi section of 183 km has been reconstructed in Georgia. According to Interfax-Azerbaijan, the work on the Georgian section has been financed by Azerbaijan, which has provided Georgia with two concessional loans totaling $775 million.

To recall, the total length of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway is 826 km. In 2021, the volume of freight transported by the railway amounted to 476.9 thousand tons, which is 2.1 times higher than the figures of 2020.