Govt proceeds with Tbilisi railway bypass project

Government considered continuing the contract with the contactor company of Tbilisi railway bypass project that was put on hold pending the final decision on how to proceed with the plan to divert rail traffic around the capital city center.

The decision was made on December 4 by the newly established Economic Council, an adviser board of Prime Minister.

The government has also reached the agreement with the Chinese Rail construction company China Railway-23 Bureau Group that will build the project with new terms. The new terms and budget are not public at present. The restructuring is scheduled for completion in 2016.

The bypass railroad project launched in 2010, comprises the construction of a 30km long double track of new railway lines and the reconstruction of 10km of existing railway line bypassing Tbilisi. The railway infrastructure between the stations of Didube and Navtlugi will be dismantled, thus in total, 73 acre area will be freed up and used for urban development.

According to the press office of the government, the building of the project was launched without technical and economic arguments.

The government, with the help of the consulting company MC Mobility, has studied the outcomes of the project implementation. It was found that the operational and maintenance section are worsening and transit capacity is reducing.

Moreover, implementing the project with the existing plan will cause the development of the high budget related projects which are not considered by the existing project.

The project was estimated to cost 360 million EURO (499.1 million USD). Georgian Railway issued five-year Euro bonds worth $250m to finance the project. In April 2010, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) agreed to provide the Georgian Railway with a 100 million EUR loan to fund the bypass railway project. In Novembe, 2011, the Georgian Railway, however, decided to pursue construction of bypass route without EBRD's loan.