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Weekly Lists
November 30, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 27
bne:
Infrastructure
Turkish minister emphasises importance of emerging Lapis Lazuli trade corridor
Georgia to privatise postal services, unbundle railway transport system
Turkey is making big efforts to connect Europe and Asia via the La- pis Lazuli trade corridor, which takes a Turkey-Georgia-Azerbaijan- Turkmenistan-Afghanistan route, the Turkish transport and infra- structure minister said on November 28.
Addressing the International Conference of Ministers of Transport
of the States Parties in Turkmenbashi, Turkmenistan, Cahit Turhan noted that trade volume between the two continents stands at $1.5bn per day, according to Hurriyet Daily News. It was expected to reach an annual $740bn by 2025, he added, with the development of trade transit options between Europe and Asia crucial to reaching the goal.
Turkey, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Georgia signed the Lapis Lazuli Corridor deal in November last year.
Georgia is to privatise its postal services run by Georgian Post, Economy Minister Giorgi Kobulia said in a Bloomberg interview, after which he explained the policy to local media.
The country’s railway transport company will be unbundled, its railway transport market will be opened up to private operators and the electricity system privatisation might resume, he also reportedly said.
The privatisation option was under consideration for the railway company Georgian Railway, but only after a company reorganisation including the unbundling of the railway infrastructure and transport functions, Kobulia added. As part of the railway transport system restructuring, the government wants to encourage more involvement of private railway operators, while the infrastructure management company would operate separately.
Real estate developer Speedwell has started building Record Park, the first urban renewal project in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, economica.net reported.
“Cluj-Napoca proves to have a high level of demand on all segments of the real estate market, which increases investor confidence, especially for complex and well planned projects that serve the sophisticated occupants' functions,” said Didier Balcaen, Speedwell's general manager.
The planned investment in the project is €42mn, and full completion is scheduled for the second quarter of 2020. The project is being developed on 17,300 square metres of land, 15 minutes' walk from the old town centre.
Speedwell of Belgium to invest €42mn in Cluj urban renewal project