TBILISI - Turkish Minister of Transportation Binali Yildirim said on Wednesday that Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway would be operational within 2.5 years.
In an exclusive interview with the A.A. correspondent, Yildirim, currently in Tbilisi to lay the foundation of the BTK railway project, said 6.5 million tones of load and 1.5 million passengers are expected to be transported on the railroad.
Yildirim said total cost of the project would be 450 million USD, stating that 200 million USD will be paid by Georgia.
BTK project foresees the construction of a railroad between Turkey and Georgia. The project will help connect railway networks of the three countries -- Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan.
The BTK network will become a transportation corridor going from Caspian Sea to China, in the east, and Europe, in the west, once it is connected to "Marmaray" project, a rail tube tunnel system under the Istanbul Strait.