On August 1, the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development and the first Vice Prime Minister, Levan Davitashvili announced that Belgian company Jan De Nul, one of the “Big Four” companies which own 80 percent of the global dredging fleet, has won the tender and will carry out the maritime infrastructure works for the Anaklia Deep Sea Port.
“We have completed the selection process for the port construction company. Jan de Nul possesses the world’s largest dedicated fleet for port construction, including both dredging and breakwater installation. This is the core, universal maritime infrastructure that will be useful in different configurations as the port develops. Therefore, we will work with the company on the contract during the month of August – I think it will take several weeks to see active construction works [start] in the Anaklia area from September,” Minister Davitashvili said.
“According to the assessment of the First Vice Prime Minister, the cooperation with the company Jan de Nul will allow the Georgian government to put into operation the first container ships in the port of Anaklia in 2029, which is an important contributing factor in terms of the development of the Middle Corridor connecting Europe and Asia,” the Ministry of Economy press-release says.
The Ministry press-release notes that Jan De Nul was established in 1938 and it has a turnover of €2.5 billion and a workforce of over 7,000 employees. Jan De Nul played a significant role in the expansion of the Panama Canal. Additionally, the company is involved in or has completed projects across various regions, including Europe, the Persian Gulf, and Africa.
Minister on Sino-Singaporean Consortium
The Minister also spoke about the Sino-Singaporean company which was declared winner of the Anaklia Deep Sea Port private partnership selection competition. Regarding the Anaklia Deep Sea Port private partnership, the Minister noted that work is underway with the Sino-Singaporean consortium to clarify the details of the proposal. “This is a process – we have identified a contender who has submitted specific proposals, but work is underway with it to clarify the proposals. This is a rather complex document with a lot of requirements, a lot of technical parameters that need to be met, and so the negotiations with the contender company continue, I think this process is going according to plan. Perhaps our decision and tactics were correct when we conducted parallel processes in order to optimize the processes – to start our part of the construction works without waiting for a private partner, and later, without wasting time, to select a partner and already develop the ground infrastructure together with the respective partner,” Levan Davitashvili said.
He also commented: “In this case, we are talking about the fact that one contender company was identified [Sino-Singaporean consortium] but we did not declare it the winner. Therefore, it will be declared a winner only if these conditions, which are to be specified, are in accordance with the competition conditions.” In response to a journalist’s question whether this means that the company may not be announced a winner, he clarified: “Of course, it is possible that it will not be announced [the winner] at all. However, we hope that in the dialogue process the proposal will be brought into line with the competition requirements and in this case we will have a winner.”
Also Read:
- 30/07/2024 – International Arbitration Court Denies Anaklia Development Consortium’s Claim Against Georgian Government
- 29/05/2024 – Minister of Economy Announces Sino-Singaporean Consortium Winner in Anaklia Port Selection Competition
- 19/03/2024 – International Tender for Anaklia Port Marine Infrastructure Announced
This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian)