Government Announces Call for Expression of Interest for Anaklia Deep Sea Port
The Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia announced on February 20 that it has launched a call for expressions of interest to attract a private partner for a 49% stake in the Anaklia Deep Sea Port project. The state will own 51% of the shares. Interested companies will have two months to submit their applications.
“It should be our task to start the construction of the Anaklia port this year. The construction of roads and highways is underway; we are working on the expansion of the airport and other concepts. So, we have positive developments in all directions,” PM Irakli Garibashvili said before yesterday’s government meeting.
Speaking at a news briefing on February 20, Economy Minister Levan Davitashvili specified that a new partner is to be selected later this year.
Next steps
The selected candidates will proceed to the next stage, where their proposals will be accepted and details will be finalized.
The Economy Minister clarified that the government will establish a state company in the near future and start the construction process after all documents are prepared and construction permits are obtained.
He also noted that the construction of the maritime infrastructure will begin this year, while the construction of the road and railway components will begin at the end of this year or the beginning of next year.
Background
The Anaklia deep-sea port project has been mired in controversy for several years. The last attempt to build the port was by the Anaklia Development Consortium – a joint venture of TBC Holding and U.S.-based Conti International, which was awarded the contract to build and operate the port in 2016.
But the ADC faced multiple setbacks, including the money-laundering allegations which emerged in 2019 against Khazaradze and Japaridze. Soon after the prosecutors filed charges against the two, Conti International announced its departure from the Consortium.
Both Khazaradze and Japaridze have maintained that the allegations against them were politically motivated, as well as an attempt to foil the construction of the port, widely regarded as a strategically and commercially crucial project.
In January 2020, the Georgian government terminated its contract with the Anaklia Development Consortium after the latter failed to attract a new investor for the project.
It should be noted that shortly after the start of the investigation, Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze resigned from all their positions in TBC Bank.
At the same time, Mamuka Khazaradze announced the creation of a new public movement in September, against the backdrop of developments around TBC Bank and the Anaklia deep-water port project.
Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili revealed in December 2022 that the long-awaited deep sea port of Anaklia will be built with the government’s participation, which will subsequently own 51% of it. The Prime Minister noted that an international competition would be announced to select the partners and companies which would participate in the project. PM Garibashvili also recalled the contract that the government had signed with the Anaklia Development Consortium in 2016 for the port’s construction, and claimed that the consortium “failed to fulfill its obligation…”
The Anaklia Development Consortium (ADC) responded to Garibashvili’s statements the next day, saying that he “made a series of misrepresentations” about the project and emphasizing that the PM “made assertions about the future of the project which are sure to fail.” The ADC also reminded Prime Minister Garibashvili that the dispute between the Consortium and the Georgian government over the project is currently in arbitration at the International Chamber of Commerce in Geneva, underscoring that the PM “will be answerable for all his false statements today in that forum, as well as before the Georgian public.”
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