Four consortia have submitted bids to the General Directorate of State Railways to build the Turkish section of the Kars-Tblisi railway. However, the project's future depends on the Georgian government raising the necessary finance to build its section of the railway.

The bidders are:

Russia's Technostroy with local firms Turan Hazinedaroglu, Oztas and Mustafa Ozcan - $339 million

France's SAE International with local firms Zer Insaat and Makyol Insaat - $358.3 million

India's Ircon International with Bayinder and Mimag, both local - $358.9 million

Sweden's ABB Adrantz with the local Alarko and Aytin Insaat - $369.5 million.

Work involves the construction of 120 kilometres of railway line, infrastructure, station roads, electrification and supply and installation of signalling equipment.

Bids for the Georgian section of the line were due to be submitted at the same time. However, the weekly EBA report says that firms were reluctant to submit bids because of the government's problems in securing finance. It is widely speculated that the Georgian government may extend the deadline for bids to November to give it more time to secure the necessary funds.

The two sides signed an agreement to construct the railway last November (MEED 21:11:97).