New section of East-West highway to open this month

A new section of Georgia’s main transport route - the East-West highway – will open this month.

Construction of a four-lane highway spanning 12 kilometres along the Agara-Zemo Osiauri section will be completed by the end of 2016, while a seven kilometre section of the same area will open in May.

Today a top official from the Roads Department of Georgia together with representatives from the World Bank Group visited the construction site.

The team from the World Bank Group arrived in Georgia and have been monitoring the process of building the East-West highway for "several days”, said the Roads Department.

The World Bank Group was actively involved in financing the East-West highway project. In total the Bank offered $367 million USD to Georgia to develop the East-West highway.

The East-West highway is deemed the country’s main transport route and covers the road from capital Tbilisi all the way to the other side of the country and the Black Sea resort town Batumi via Poti.

In February this year Georgia’s Finance Minister Nodar Khaduri and the World Bank’s regional director for the South Caucasus Mercy Tembon signed an agreement on the East-West Highway Corridor Improvement Project.

Project details published by the World Bank on its official webpage said the development objectives of the East-West Highway Corridor Improvement Project for Georgia were to:

• Reduce road user costs along the East-West highway corridor section upgraded under the project; and
• Strengthen the capacity of the Roads Department of the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure and the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development to respectively manage the road network.

Georgian company Black Sea Group was carrying out the construction works together with Kuwaiti company Copri Construction Enterprises.