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VESTNIK KAVKAZA: CONSTRUCTION OF BAKU-TBILISI-KARS RAILWAY POSTPONED FOR POLITICAL REASONS
19:51 22/10/2013 " REGION
The construction of Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway is delayed.
Experts claim that the constant postponement of the railway
commissioning has rather political than technical reasons, writes
the columnist of "IN" Victoria Panfilova in "Vestnik Kavkaza."
"Disagreements in the project implementation began almost from the
first day. Initially, Turkey, recognized the importance of BTK, but
complained about the high price of constructing a branch stretching
from the Georgian city of Akhalkalak to Kars and pointed at the
greater cost-effectiveness of de-preservation of the existing branch
from Kars to the Armenian city of Gyumri. Some independent Turkish
experts insisted on implementing the BTK project in this very form:
the construction in that case would be less expensive, and Armenia's
involvement in the project would bring a certain political detente
in the region," the article reads.
However, according to the article, the absolute refusal of Baku to
cooperate with Yerevan and its willingness to undertake the additional
financial costs played a crucial role.
As for Georgia, here BTK project was initially perceived ambiguously,
the author writes. The decision of the authorities to take a credit
from Azerbaijan, even in one percent, and to sign a construction
contract with the Azerbaijani side caused bewildered among the
opposition as well as with the experts. "Azerbaijan needs the road,
so it is him who has to pay for its construction," ex-Foreign Minister
Salome Zurabishvili stated.
The independent experts started to talk about the treason of national
interests: with the commissioning of the BTK the cargo flows from
East to West and back will inevitably be redirect, and the Georgian
ports will lose a part of the revenue.
The head of the Association of cross-border cooperation, Alexander
Sobyanin, told the author, "Georgia is counting on a more active
participation in the Azerbaijani transit and, first of all, in the
transfer of hydrocarbons from the pipes onto the railway and then to
Batumi port."
According to the article, observers do not rule out that one of the
indirect causes of the BTC construction postponement could be the
changing situation in Georgia. The thing is that after the change of
power in Georgia, the new government of this country has been revised
all of the major projects of their predecessors. And now the Prime
Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili has announced about necessity of finding
out the expediency of building BTK.
As for the plans of using the BTK by NATO for goods transit from
Afghanistan to Europe, then according to A. Sobyanin, this is
improbable. "The main route of taking out the cargo lies through
Pakistan and Arabic countries to Europe. The so-called Caspian route
(lying through the Kazakh port of Aktau to port of Azerbaijan and
then through BTK) if it will be used anytime, then to a small extent
as the route is expensive," Sobyanin said.
In general, according to the expert, the BTK is first of all a
political project, and the talks about the workloads, about the
enormous amounts of freight are hypothetical. "The route to Kars
and, the railway network in Turkey, in general, was projected
under the Eurasian transport corridor (TRACECA). However, the
multimodal consignments that were allowed to transfer by the
routes of international corridors - TRACECA, ESCAP (corridors
of the UN) and other European corridors, showed that at present
there are practically no transit goods if they are not politically
motivated. The goods that Azerbaijani economy needs is not tied to the
Georgian direction. They can be redirected in other routes as well,
through Volgodon for example, or by the Russian railways. Speaking
of critically important transport links for Azerbaijan, then it is
the connection to Nakhichevan, but not transport connectivity with
Turkey through Georgia," Alexander Sobyanin said.
The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars construction started in 2008. In December 2009,
the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway was interrupted and
resumed in May 2010. The railway project BTK includes the construction
of the Kars-Akhalkalaki railway with the length of 98 km, of which 68
km are on the Turkish territory, 30 km on Georgian. The preliminary
price of the project is $ 422 million, of which $ 202 million will
be spent on the Georgian section construction, and $ 220 million on
Turkish section construction.
After changing the route and the allocation of the additional funds
the total price of Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project rose from $ 600 million
to $ 1.2 billion. In 2007, Azerbaijan allocated to Georgia a soft
loan of $ 200 million, for a period of 25 years at 1% per annum of the
construction of the Georgian railway section. However, these funds were
not enough, and in 2011 Azerbaijan allocated a loan of $ 575 million
already at 5% per annum for the construction of the Georgian railway.
Source: Panorama.am
19:51 22/10/2013 " REGION
The construction of Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway is delayed.
Experts claim that the constant postponement of the railway
commissioning has rather political than technical reasons, writes
the columnist of "IN" Victoria Panfilova in "Vestnik Kavkaza."
"Disagreements in the project implementation began almost from the
first day. Initially, Turkey, recognized the importance of BTK, but
complained about the high price of constructing a branch stretching
from the Georgian city of Akhalkalak to Kars and pointed at the
greater cost-effectiveness of de-preservation of the existing branch
from Kars to the Armenian city of Gyumri. Some independent Turkish
experts insisted on implementing the BTK project in this very form:
the construction in that case would be less expensive, and Armenia's
involvement in the project would bring a certain political detente
in the region," the article reads.
However, according to the article, the absolute refusal of Baku to
cooperate with Yerevan and its willingness to undertake the additional
financial costs played a crucial role.
As for Georgia, here BTK project was initially perceived ambiguously,
the author writes. The decision of the authorities to take a credit
from Azerbaijan, even in one percent, and to sign a construction
contract with the Azerbaijani side caused bewildered among the
opposition as well as with the experts. "Azerbaijan needs the road,
so it is him who has to pay for its construction," ex-Foreign Minister
Salome Zurabishvili stated.
The independent experts started to talk about the treason of national
interests: with the commissioning of the BTK the cargo flows from
East to West and back will inevitably be redirect, and the Georgian
ports will lose a part of the revenue.
The head of the Association of cross-border cooperation, Alexander
Sobyanin, told the author, "Georgia is counting on a more active
participation in the Azerbaijani transit and, first of all, in the
transfer of hydrocarbons from the pipes onto the railway and then to
Batumi port."
According to the article, observers do not rule out that one of the
indirect causes of the BTC construction postponement could be the
changing situation in Georgia. The thing is that after the change of
power in Georgia, the new government of this country has been revised
all of the major projects of their predecessors. And now the Prime
Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili has announced about necessity of finding
out the expediency of building BTK.
As for the plans of using the BTK by NATO for goods transit from
Afghanistan to Europe, then according to A. Sobyanin, this is
improbable. "The main route of taking out the cargo lies through
Pakistan and Arabic countries to Europe. The so-called Caspian route
(lying through the Kazakh port of Aktau to port of Azerbaijan and
then through BTK) if it will be used anytime, then to a small extent
as the route is expensive," Sobyanin said.
In general, according to the expert, the BTK is first of all a
political project, and the talks about the workloads, about the
enormous amounts of freight are hypothetical. "The route to Kars
and, the railway network in Turkey, in general, was projected
under the Eurasian transport corridor (TRACECA). However, the
multimodal consignments that were allowed to transfer by the
routes of international corridors - TRACECA, ESCAP (corridors
of the UN) and other European corridors, showed that at present
there are practically no transit goods if they are not politically
motivated. The goods that Azerbaijani economy needs is not tied to the
Georgian direction. They can be redirected in other routes as well,
through Volgodon for example, or by the Russian railways. Speaking
of critically important transport links for Azerbaijan, then it is
the connection to Nakhichevan, but not transport connectivity with
Turkey through Georgia," Alexander Sobyanin said.
The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars construction started in 2008. In December 2009,
the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway was interrupted and
resumed in May 2010. The railway project BTK includes the construction
of the Kars-Akhalkalaki railway with the length of 98 km, of which 68
km are on the Turkish territory, 30 km on Georgian. The preliminary
price of the project is $ 422 million, of which $ 202 million will
be spent on the Georgian section construction, and $ 220 million on
Turkish section construction.
After changing the route and the allocation of the additional funds
the total price of Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project rose from $ 600 million
to $ 1.2 billion. In 2007, Azerbaijan allocated to Georgia a soft
loan of $ 200 million, for a period of 25 years at 1% per annum of the
construction of the Georgian railway section. However, these funds were
not enough, and in 2011 Azerbaijan allocated a loan of $ 575 million
already at 5% per annum for the construction of the Georgian railway.
Source: Panorama.am