The Russian Ministry of Transport said it was working to increase the capacity of the Upper Lars border checkpoint on the Russian-Georgian border, where currently about 900 trucks have lined on the Russian side of the border as the average time of customs clearance has dropped to 2-3 days.
It said 12 additional lanes will be created at the border checkpoint by July, 2022 and another 12 by the end of the year bringing the total number of lanes to 39 from 14 now. The Russian ministry said also that more than 120 people are involved now in the reconstruction of the checkpoint.
According to the Russian Ministry of Transport, previously this checkpoint used to handle up to 1.5 thousand cars a day in the peak periods. At the beginning of this year, the average number of vehicles was up to 900 a day.
"To date, measures taken have increased the capacity of the checkpoint to handle 2,300 vehicles a day, including 1,100 trucks," the ministry said.
Earlier reports in the Armenian mass media said that hundreds of Armenian heavy trucks with perishable goods were queuing up for weeks to pass the Upper Lars checkpoint into Russia, ARKA reports.
