Arailroad connecting Rasht and Astara in Iran, which should become part of the International North-South Transportation Corridor, will be built by the end of 2027, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov told journalists on the sidelines of the Russia-Islamic World Kazan Forum.
"In line with our agreement, the construction should take four years. Designing and geological prospecting are already underway. We plan that all work should be completed in Q3 2027 or by the end of 2027," Belousov said when asked how long the construction would take.
Speaking of the development of the Trans-Caspian section of the North-South ITC, Belousov said active work is currently underway to launch this route.
The Caspian Sea's coastal zone is shallow, and in order for vessels with a draft of four meters to enter there, dredging works began earlier this year to build a special canal.
"All of this is moving ahead quite successfully and we assume that the volume of transportation along this route would reach 10 million tons by 2030," he was quoted as saying by Interfax.
"We plan to bring the North-South transportation capacity to 41-45 million tons by 2030, which is three times as much as now. We're currently transporting about 15 million tons along the three routes [Eastern, Central and Trans-Caspian]," he said.
As reported earlier, Russia and Iran on Wednesday signed an agreement to jointly finance the design, construction and delivery of goods and services for building the Rasht-Astara railroad in Iran. The document was signed online with the participation of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
It was also reported that Russia would issue a 1.3 billion inter-state loan to finance the construction. The overall cost of the project has been estimated at €1.6 billion.