A Chinese consortium — China Communications Construction Company Ltd, together with China Harbor Investment — was selected as a private investor for the construction of the new deep-water port of Anaklia.
The Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Levan Davitashvili, announced that a Chinese consortium will be announced as the winner of the Anaklia port project in the coming days.
“Finally, we received proposals only from the Chinese consortium. In this case, the detailed application proposal is complete, the relevant bank guarantees have been presented. Therefore, in the coming days we will clarify the details, after which we will declare the Chinese consortium as the winner and start negotiations on the partnership agreement. I think this is a very important stage. This project is of great importance, and will employ many people,” said Davitashvili.
Background
On December 24, 2017, the then Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili and Mamuka Khazaradze, the founder of Anaklia Development Consortium, officially opened the port construction in Anaklia. On January 9, 2020, during the prime ministership of Giorgi Gakharia, the Government of Georgia announced that it was terminating the contract with Anaklia Development Consortium, which was to have built the Anaklia Port, due to non-fulfillment of its obligations. The Anaklia Development Consortium included Conti International (USA) and TBC Holding (Georgia). Anaklia Development Consortium (ADC) and its Dutch investor Bob Meyer are conducting an ongoing arbitration dispute against Georgia.
In order to select a private partner for the project, the government started preparatory work to announce a new selection process in the second half of 2022. The Anaklia Deepwater Port Development Agency hired international consultants (in commercial issues – MTBS, and in legal issues – Squire Patton Boggs), with whose involvement the documentation for the selection process was prepared.
On September 20, 2023, the Ministry of Economy announced that two companies had moved to the second stage of the private partner selection of the Anaklia Deepwater Port project. Although they were not named, we were told they were Swiss-Luxembourgish and Chinese-Singaporean companies.
According to the minister, only four companies expressed their desire for private partnership in the construction of the port. Of the two companies that failed to move to the next stage, one was from Israel, and the other also from China. Yet, last year, European Commissioner for Transport Adina Valeani said that European companies were also interested in the port of Anaklia, and President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev stated that Baku is interested in implementing joint projects with Georgia, including Anaklia port. However, if we rely on the information provided by the Georgian government, they did not show their desire for private partnership in Anaklia port by participating in the competition.
As a result of the qualification-evaluation of the candidates, the candidates were given a period of several months to present a technical, commercial and financial proposal, as a result of which the commission identified the winner.
In parallel with the process, the state established a company that started preparatory works for the construction of marine infrastructure (dredging, breakwater). According to the Ministry of Economy, part of the land plots required for the first phase of construction works will be transferred to the same company as a capital contribution.
Together with the private investor, a port construction joint company is to be established, where the state will own 51%, and the private partner 49%.
