The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway project will be completed in the first half of 2017, said Ahmad Arslan, Minister of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications of Turkey.
“Currently active work on construction of the railway is underway. If we take into account the complexity of the winter period, we plan to complete the construction work in March or April,” APA quoted the minister as saying.
Talking about the difficulties in the implementation of the project, the Turkish minister said that the lawsuits and discontent led to project delays.
“Because of the discontent that emerged after the start of tendering procedures, the project is implemented with a delay of one year, but due to litigation – three years,” Arslan clarified.
On Turkey’s territory there are 79 km of BTK line, while 58 km accounts for the Kars province. Turkey is also planning to construct a logistics center in the Kars province within the framework of the project. With this purpose, the old building of the railway station is being demolished to make room for the new project.
In November, the governor of Turkey’s Kars province Rahmi Dogan, said that the tests on Turkey’s territory will start in January 2017.
The 178 km BTK line will connect Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey.
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