Rakeen Takes Over Disputed Amusement Park

Rakeen, the real estate development arm of the UAE’s Ras Al Khaimah emirate, has taken over the Mtatsminda amusement park in Tbilisi.

Rakeen Georgia has confirmed that it signed an agreement with the Tbilisi city municipality in June on leasing the park, overlooking the capital, for a 49-year term. The company will pay GEL 300,000 per annum to the municipality.

The Georgian authorities seized the park last November from Lynx Ltd, a company wholly owned by late tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili, after Tbilisi city municipality canceled a 49-year leasing contract with the company, claiming that Lynx Ltd had “violated numerous times” the terms of the contract.

The park, which had a so-called ‘soft opening’ last September, was forced to cease operations on November 7, 2007.

Salford Georgia, which managed Patarkatsishvili’s assets in Georgia, denied the municipality’s allegations and said in November that it would “continue to defend its rights under its contract” as well as USD 25 million it had invested in the park’s rehabilitation since 2005.

Salford Georgia has declined to comment on the new leasing contract between Rakeen and Tbilisi city municipality.