Gov’t to hire consulting group for building Anaklia deep sea port
The construction works started in 2017 in Anaklia before their suspension two years later. Artistic image: Ministry of Economy press office
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The Georgian Government has plans to hire a consulting group which will ensure aid in selection of investors and other mandatory procedures for facilitating the construction of the deep sea port in Georgia’s Black Sea town of Anaklia, Georgian Economy Minister Levan Davitashvili said on Monday.
Davitashvili announced the plans that follow the failure of a previous consortium unveiled as the winner of a related tender to attract $2.5 billion in funds to construct the port near Georgia’s Russian-occupied Abkhazia region.
Speaking to media following the Government cabinet meeting, Davitashvili said the 2014 tender for selecting investors for the project and completion of a number of mandatory procedures over five years until 2019 meant authorities could skip several stages and “speed up” the construction process by selecting new partners with the help of consultants.
Now the Government is in need of a consulting group or groups which will draft conditions for selection of investors very professionally”, Davitashvili said, noting the Government “already has sufficient information” to correctly formulate the conditions and choose “right partners”.
Georgian Economy Minister Levan Davitashvili has stated that large investrs were interesred in the construction of Anaklia deep sea port. Photo: Ministry of Economy press office.
In comments over investors, the Minister said several large investors from Abu Dhabi, Persian Gulf and Central Asian countries were interested in the constitution of the deep sea port.
It is also very important to correctly define the model of the public-private partnership in the project. It is critically important for the successful implementation of the project and to get the results we want, which include having modern port infrastructure that will serve the use of the country's transit potential, the interests of our people, and will further increase cargo flow via Georgia”, Davitashvili said.
In further details, the Minister said a “high-level design work” of the port had been carried out and made available, while an economic study had been conducted by the Dutch consulting company MTBS, which included figures about the possible flow of cargo in the port.
Anaklia Development Consortium, the winner of the previous tender to build the deep sea port in Anaklia, was unable to obtain the required $400 million in loans from international financial institutions and $120 million from potential investors by the official expiration of the term limits at the end of 2019.
The consortium had signed a deal with the Government in 2016, with TBC Holding as its principal partner, to attract a total of $2.5 billion in funds needed for the port construction. Construction works started in 2017 before their suspension two years later.
The Georgian government will start the process of selecting a new potential investor for the Anaklia Deep Sea Port project in the near future, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili announced earlier today.
Anaklia Development Consortium is going to appeal to the International Court of Justice in response to the Georgian government’s cancellation of the investment agreement with the consortium to build the Anaklia Deep Sea Port.
The Georgian government will begin procedures to cancel the investment agreement signed with the Anaklia Development Consortium on October 3, 2016 to build the Anaklia Deep Sea Port. The consortium has been unable to obtain the needed $400 million in loans from international financial institutions and $120 million from potential investors by the official expiration of the term limits at the end of 2019.
The term given to Anaklia Development Consortium by the government, a state-tender winner to build a deep-sea port in Anaklia, western Georgia, to attract 520 million USD from a potential investor and four international banks, has expired today. The statement released by the consortium earlier today reads the "necessity and the lack of governmental support."
Pawel Herczynski, the European Union Ambassador to Georgia, on Thursday said Georgia’s location placed “high importance” on the country in its role as an alternative trade route for transportation of goods from Asia to Europe in the wake of Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Monday announced the Government was planning to “urgently” launch an international competition for selecting investors to complete the Anaklia deep-sea port on western Georgia’s Black Sea coast, adding the project would also involve state participation.
The long-anticipated construction of the Anaklia deep sea port on Georgia’s Black Sea coast will start this year, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili announced on Monday.
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