World’s second longest tunnel to open the way for transport integration between Turkey and Central Asia
The new tunnel, which is under construction in the north-eastern part of Turkey, will significantly improve transport connectivity between Central Asia and the Black Sea basin. The world’s second longest double-bore automobile tunnel with a length of 14,346 km, drilled through the Ovit mount, will be commissioned by the end of the year, Daily Sabah reports. The new route will shorten the time between the Black Sea province of Rize and the town of Ispir in the province of Erzurum from 5 to 2 hours. According to the Turkish authorities, the new infrastructure will offer year-round link between the Black Sea basin, Iran and the countries of the North Caucasus, namely Azerbaijan and Georgia, with eventual access to Central Asia. Indeed, the current mountain highway is closed for almost the entire winter period due to the risk of avalanches. From this point of view, Ovit tunnel in the future would facilitate the formation of transit cargo flows to Europe via the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, which is part of the International transport corridor connecting Turkmenistan with Azerbaijan through the Caspian Sea. Creation of a multimodal transnational transport network, including corridor Afghanistan-Turkmenistan-Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey, has been regularly discussed during negotiations at various levels between the participating countries.
