MOSCOW, January 9. /TASS/. All issues related to the construction of the Rasht-Astara railway section, including land acquisition for the project, will be resolved by the end of March, Iranian Ambassador to Moscow Kazem Jalali said in an interview with TASS.
"Significant progress has been made in acquiring land plots for the project, and more than 100 km have already been allocated for construction," the ambassador said. "The acquisition process is moving forward daily, and according to the Iranian side, land purchases will be completed by the end of the current Iranian year, which corresponds to late March," he added.
According to him, the Rasht-Astara railway construction project, as the missing link of the western branch of the International North-South Transport Corridor, is "one of the most important projects in bilateral relations and is being actively advanced by the authorities of the two countries at the highest level."
"Fortunately, last year we saw good progress in advancing this project. An addendum to the engineering surveys was signed," the diplomat noted.
In 2023, Russia and Iran reached an agreement under the North-South project to jointly build the 160-km Rasht-Astara railway section, designed to ensure uninterrupted transit to ports in the Persian Gulf. The total cost of the project is estimated at 1.6 bln euro. Moscow and Tehran will jointly finance the design, construction, and the supply of goods and services.