“Setting apart political and economic issues” was the motto that united Russia, Georgia, Abkhazia and Armenia to begin the works of rehabilitation of Abkhazian railroad. An ad hoc four-sided consortium was set to carry out all works, Vladimir Badalian, representative of Armenia in the consortium, told daily Azg.
A document signed at the session of the Russian-Georgian intergovernmental commission in December 2005 set in motion the creation of the consortium. Mr. Badalian says that thanks to the efforts of Armenian-Russian and Armenian-Georgian companies they managed to set apart economic and political issues. As a stumbling block in this regional initiative emerged first of all the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict. Tbilisi sought to get Georgian refugees back to the Abkhazian region of Gali against its consent to railroad’s reopening. The return of refugees paved a way for negations. The next vital issue had to do with the customs station: should it be on Georgian-Abkhazian or Russian-Abkhazian border?
Representatives of Russia, Armenia, Georgia and Abkhazia had their first meeting within the consortium format on March 15 in Moscow and agreed to meet again in Tbilisi in late March. After the mid-April meeting in Yerevan the consortium will be legalized after which it will engage in its activities. The consortium is also responsible for fund raising. Most of the finances will be directed to demine surrounding territories of the railroad, repair of bridges and rails. Vladimir Badalian says that a railroad link stretching 70-80 km is completely devoid of rails. The overall price of the project is $150-200 million. The Russian side will cover 50 percent of the sum, Georgia $30, Armenia and Abkhazia 10 percent. Mr. Badalian assures that the railroad will possibly function in 1 or 2 years.
The consortium gives hope that the Abkhazian railroad will finally function spurring development of our economy. Besides it will break the economic blockade of Armenia by 60-70 percent opening a window not only to Russia but also to Europe. Experts claim that reopening of the railroad will bring new approaches in Armenian-Turkish relations – the closed Turkish border will hence be meaningless.
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