News – June 18, 2008
Local press reports say the Azerbaijani government has “toughened sharply” the requirements for the feasibility study being made by South Korea’s GSE & Construction for the new Baku Sea International Trade Port in Alat, Baku.
Sadraddin Mammadov, the chief of the Department of Transport Policy & Economy of the Ministry of Transport, said that the Ministry has scheduled a tender for later this year for designs for the new port.
“Such tender is demanded in connection with toughening of requirements for quality and technical level of the port. After drawing designs are ready, they will undergo serious examination in the country, and then a construction tender will be conducted on their basis. According to GSE & Construction estimate, it will take much time, but we expect to conduct the tender already in 2009,” Mammadov said.
The Finance Ministry in Azerbaijan has reportedly had many expressions of interest in financing for the project, among them being proposals from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and European Bank for Reconstruction & Development.
Construction of a new international sea port in Alyat will be three-stage and completed by 2016.