Ivanishvili: Anaklia Port Project Is Not Attractive for Private Business
By Tea Mariamidze
Thursday, April 11
The founder and chair of the ruling party Georgian Dream (GD), billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, says that Anaklia Deep Sea Port project, which is one of the strategic projects for the country, is not interesting for the private business.
"I have always been skeptical. This project is difficult and less interesting for private business. Private business tries to get profit in 5-6, maximum 10 years. From this point of view, this is not an interesting project. Our only interest is that this port is built and if it is done by a private business, it will be welcomed by the state”, Ivanishvili said.
Ivanishvili believes that it may take 30 - 40 years or more to earn a profit from Anaklia Port.
“As a rule, the states are actively involved in implementing such infrastructure projects. The project is necessary for the state and if the private business cannot do it, the state will want to implement it," he told Imedi TV.
Anaklia will be the first deep-sea port in Georgia. The first phase of the port is supposed to be completed in 2021. The port will be able to host ships from 2022. Anaklia port will be developed in 9 phases and total investments will amount to USD 2.5 billion.
The project of Anaklia port focuses on the increase of Georgia’s maritime-transportation potential.
Anaklia Development Consortium obtained a right to implement this project through the process of tender. TBC Holding (Georgia), Conti International (USA), SSA Marine (USA), British Wondernet Express (Central Asia) and G-Star LTD (Bulgaria) are members of the consortium.
TBC Holding is a regional investment and development company, one of the members of which is TBC Bank, one of the largest Georgian banks. TBC Holding is a founder of Anaklia Development Consortium and primary partner and developer.
However, TBC Bank is undergoing some serious difficulties lately, after the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia (POG) launched an investigation into one of the transactions made in 2008, which, as the POG says, contains signs of money laundry. After the developments, founder of the bank and the Chair of the Supervisory Board, Mamuka Bakhtadze and his deputy quit their posts.
Some forces linked the recent developments around TBC to Anaklia Port project, hinting that “an orchestrated attack” on TBC was launched to help Ivanishvili obtain the project and implement it himself.
GD Chair said about the TBC case that “such kind of rough transactions were not made even under Russia’s wild environment,” adding that “there are no questions, but the opponents do not calm down.”
However, he added that the recent developments around TBC bank and its founder Mamuka Khazaradze might have a negative impact on the Anaklia Port project.
