Georgian Energy Minister Meets Abkhaz Officials in Gali District over Enguri HPP

Georgian energy minister, Kakha Kaladze, met last week breakaway Abkhazia’s minister of energy and transport Viktor Khilchevsky in Gali district of the breakaway region to discuss ongoing and planned rehabilitation works of the Enguri hydro power plant, the Georgian and Abkhazia sides said.

Generators of the Enguri hydro power plant, which is the largest in the region with installed capacity of 1,300 megawatt, are located on the Abkhaz side of the administrative border in the Saberio village in the Gali district, and its arch dam is located on the Georgian-controlled territory. According to a long-standing, informal agreement between Tbilisi and Sokhumi 40% of the electricity generated by the plant goes to Abkhazia and the rest 60% is received by rest of Georgia.

News about the meeting, which was held on March 6, was first reported by the official Abkhaz news agency, Apsnipress, on March 11, saying that issues related to rehabilitation works at the Enguri HPP were discussed. 

Quoting head of the Abkhaz state-owned energy company, Chernomorenergo, Aslan Basaria, Apsnipress reported that the meeting was held “in a constructive manner to discuss issues of mutual interest.”

“Bilateral consultations will continue,” Basaria added.

Georgian energy minister, Kakha Kaladze, who is also deputy PM, confirmed that he met officials from the Abkhaz side and said that it was part of a long-standing “very good cooperation” existing in energy sector between the sides for many years already.

“This meeting took place on March 6. We have a very good cooperation in the energy [sector] for years already and I am sure that it will continue in the future as well,” Kaladze told journalists in Tbilisi on March 12.

“We have visited generators… in [the village] Saberio,” Kaladze said. “As you are aware rehabilitation works at the Vardnili cascade to clean the channel are underway. Rehabilitation works at the tunnel are planned for 2016, which will be a large-scale work and will require suspending operation of the hydro power plant for several months.”

Abkhaz lawmaker Akhra Bzhania and head of the Gali district administration Timur Nadaraia also participated in the meeting, according to Apsnipress. The Georgian Energy Minister was accompanied by his two deputies Ilia Eloshvili and Mariam Valishvilli, as well as by Sulkhan Zumburidze, a senior executive of the state-owned power transmission company, Georgian State Elecrosystem.

Previously when the issue of Enguri HPP emerged in the Georgian and Abkhaz media was in mid-January, when head of the Abkhaz energy company, Chernomorenergo, Aslan Basaria, said that the Abkhaz side was negotiating with Tbilisi on the issue of “ownership” the power plant. The Georgian Energy Ministry denied it.