The Prime-Minister of Georgia Nurab Noghaideli announced that the project of the Kars-Akhalkalak-Tbilisi-Baku railroad will start in spring 2007. He also mentioned that working groups will be formed headed by the Transport Minister of Azerbaijan and the Minster of Economic Development of Georgia in order to quicken the process of preparing necessary documents. According to the Georgian Prime-Minister by the end of the first quarter the parties will sign a certain intergovernmental agreement. In spring first branch of the railroad construction will start and by the end of the year the second one will be built. They are planning the construction of the 98 kilometer-long Kars-Akhalkalak railroad branch, 68 kilometer of which will be passing through the territory of Turkey and 30 kilometer through Georgia. It is planned to re-store the Akhalkalak-Tbilisi segment of the railroad. The cost of the project is estimated 420 million USD, 220 million USD out of which is needed for the construction in the Georgian segment. According to Day.az the Transport Minister of Azerbaijan, Musa Panakhov announced that Azerbaijan will give about 150 million USD to Georgia for the construction of the Georgian segment of Kars-Akhalkalak-Tbilisi-Baku railroad. The rest of the financing will be given to Georgia by Turkey. According to the Minister, Georgia will pay back the debt at the expense of money received during the exploitation of the railroad.
