Source:Â www.steelguru.com
Iran Daily reported that Ashgabat’s recent decision to annul a contract with an Iranian company over the construction of a key railroad linking Iran to the Central Asia does not mean an end to the project and Tehran will accomplish construction of the railroad which is a vital North South corridor.
Mr Ali Nikzad roads and urban development minister of Iran said that “The termination of Turkmenistan’s contract with an Iranian company will not affect the two country’s joint project to construct a railroad. This railroad will be inaugurated in due time.”
He said that meantime Turkmenistan might have annulled the contract with the Iranian company in a bid to strike a better deal with the same or a different contractor. Yet, the Iranian minister underscored that Iran will accomplish its undertakings with regard to this project.
Earlier Turkmenistan has annulled USD 700 million contracts for an Iranian company to build a key section of the key railroad. The decision was made at a cabinet meeting chaired by President Mr Gurbanguly Berdimuhammadov.
Mr Ahmad Sadeqi Iranian Deputy Minister of Roads and Urban Development said that the last phase of the construction of the railroad began officially in a ceremony with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in attendance. Construction of the infrastructures of the 80 kilometer long railroad has already been finished.
The railroad will link Iran to Turkmenistan and then to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan and will connect the Commonwealth of Independent States countries with the Indian Ocean and high seas and the Persian Gulf littoral states. More info
