Around 220 trillion rials ($656 million) are needed to complete the construction of Rasht-Astara railroad, says the CEO of the Construction and Development of Transportation Infrastructures Company.
Kheirollah Khademi added that the government is working to procure this amount through local or foreign investment, the news portal of the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development reported.
“Russia has shown readiness to invest in this project. Expert Russian teams have visited the railroad’s site and we have given them the project’s technical data. They are to respond within a month,” he said, adding that the Iranian side is waiting for the Russian side to announce its preferred mode of financial engagement in the project, which would either be in the form of a government loan, joint investment, or financing.
The 164-km Rasht–Astara railroad has faced years of problems in terms of construction and implementation. The main obstacle has been financing, particularly due to the United States’ sanctions on Iran.
According to an earlier agreement between Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan, both sides pledged to provide $500 million each to build the Rasht–Astara railroad. And in 2016, the International Bank of Azerbaijan signed a deal with Iran on the allocation of a $500 million loan for this purpose. However, in practice, this agreement and the loan did not materialize due to the comprehensive US sanctions on Iran’s banking network.
“Russian Railways is expecting a decision soon on completing a section of the Rasht-Astara railroad in Iran,” Sergei Pavlov, the company’s first deputy head, said last month during the Made in Russia 2022 international export forum.
"Rasht-Astara is a serious obstacle today for connecting the [North-South] railroad route into a single network," Pavlov said, noting that the RZD-Logistics subsidiary currently uses the route for multimodal transportation, Interfax reported.
"We are currently holding very intensive negotiations with the Iranian side and with the Azerbaijani side in order to launch the route," Pavlov said.
"I am certain that we will be able to hear positive news very soon, because all the participants, all the governments and the ministries of transportation and railroad organizations are working toward the single goal of launching the railroad as soon as possible."