Completion of Rikoti Pass design is planned by this May

Completion of Rikoti Pass design is planned by this May

Chairman of the Roads Department of Georgia, Mr. Irakli Karseladze visited Rikoti Pass along with the EIB Mission Representatives to get familiar with the design works of Rikoti Pass. EIB will be financing construction of 2 sections of Chumateleti-Argveta road: in particular, Chumateleti-Khevi and Ubisa-Shorapani.
Altogether, the length of the road to be constructed on Rikoti Pass is around 52 km, which includes around 97 bridges and 53 tunnels. The project will cost around USD 1 bln. Completion of design works is planned by May, 2018, after which bidding on construction works will be announced. Final stage is starting construction works stage by stage.
Construction of Rikoti Pass is divided into four sections: Chumateleti-Khevi section (Section I), 117 km, Khevi-Ubisa section (Section II), 12,2 km, Ubisa-Shorapani section (Section III) 13 km and Shorapani-Argveta Section (Section IV), 14,7 km.
Chumateleti-Argveta section, which is one of the difficult sections,  is the part of E60 Highway. Modernization of Rikoti Pass is extremely important for development of road network and adjusting it with modern standards. Modernization of the Pass will promote carrying capacity of the road and increase transit cargo turnover; it will also boost safety on roads and reduce travel time.
Around 5 000 people will be employed on Rikoti Pass construction.