Anaklia – Poti Scandal

5 Июн

June 3, 2019 – The Anaklia Development Consortium (ADC) has commented on a report that the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia has issued a new deep-watering, multi-purpose construction permit to JSC Corporation in Poti Sea Port.

Via its Facebook page, ADC described the news as “shocking”, and considers that the government has been concealing news, including alleged discussions with international financial institutions to finance the Poti project.

ADC, which plans a new deep sea port at the Black Sea port of Anaklia, says that the Poti threatens the Anaklia project, possibly leading to its suspension.

The project for the future biggest deep sea port in the Black Sea, Anaklia, has reportedly secured financing promises, but no cash yet, for the first stage of its development, which resulted in a flurry of activity and media speculations.

The consortium behind one of the biggest ever projects in Georgia is believed to have obtained conditional assurances from international lenders for $600 million (€533 million) which would be almost enough to cover the estimated $620 million cost to complete the first phase of the port’s development.

Anaklia Development Consortium (ADC), which won the state tender to construct the port and signed a deal with the government in 2016 with TBC Holding as its principal partner, has faced problems in attracting funds for the $2.5 billion (€2.23 billion) project. ADC consists of TBC Holding from Georgia, Conti International (USA), SSA Marine (USA), British Wondernet Express working in Central Asia, and G-Star Ltd. from Bulgaria (the company has Georgian owners, but no further information about it is available in Bulgaria).

Last week kit was reported that the PACE Group had received $50 million in funding from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) towards the development, construction, and operation of a new multifunctional marine terminal at the Georgian Black Sea port of Poti, Georgia.

A new ultra-modern terminal is now planned for construction. Located on 25 hectares of dedicated land, the new terminal will require dredging work to take place in the harbour to a depth of 12 metres, which will result in the sea port being able to accept vessels up to 253 metres in length and with a load capacity up to 50,000 tonnes. Named the PACE Terminal Project, once completed, this new deep seaport and terminal complex in the Poti New Port Basin is expected to strengthen PACE Group’s powerful port infrastructure.

Later on came another news: Minister of Economy of Georgia Natia Turnava has dismissed Head of Construction Control Agency and declared the document issued to the company APM Terminals Poti is not a building permit.

“The permit issued is an interim paper concerned with the land use and it was issued by the agency’s managers not agreed with by the Government. Moreover, there were certain procedural infringements as well, in particular, there is no consent by the land owner, namely the state. Basing on this, we have the said decision cancelled and the agency head to have it issued – dismissed from his office consequently”, announced Natia Turnava.

At the same time Minister of Economy requested ADC to abstain from various excuses and focus on maintaining its commitments.

“This project enjoys an unprecedented support by the state’s side, from a number of infrastructure projects implementation concerned with the port, to investments by the state in the port’s construction amounted to $100M. We hope that the private investor, ADC, is able well to meet its undertakings on such a background of the support”, maintained she.

According to her, Anaklia port project remains a strategic priority for Georgia, and Government is going to take every possible measure in order to solve any issues hindering the funds attraction to its construction.

https://www.portseurope.com/anaklia-development-consortium-issues-statement-on-poti-port-development/

https://commersant.ge/ru/post/minekonomiki-otmenilo-razreshenie-na-stroitelstvo-glubokovodnogo-porta-v-poti