Conti International has withdrawn from the Anaklia Development Consortium (ADC), leaving Georgia’s proposed deep sea port in limbo.
Media in Georgia have been able to confirm reports that the US-Based Conti Group has now withdrawn from the troubled Anaklia Development Corporation (ADC). Rumours around the ADC have been circulating for weeks, but now multiple reports have cited ADC CEO Levan Akhvlediani confirming that Conti has withdrawn from the board of ADC.
A report on the Georgian website civil.ge quotes a statement from the Georgian Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure where it calls on Conti International to submit a plan for attracting another western investor to the project. It was never clear, however, where the private funds for the first phase of the development, which were a requirement to trigger other financing, were actually coming from.
ADC is a joint venture of Conti International and Georgian company TBC Holding. According to the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure TBC can not proceed with the project without finding another partner and securing funding.
As reported last month Anaklia appeared to be moving forward after the ADC announced it had selected France-based Effiage as the civil contractor. STS cranes have also been ordered from Hyundai-Samho in Korea, and eRTGs from ZPMC in China.
As that report noted TBC’s founders and owners Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze were at the same time formally charged with money laundering by the Georgian Prosecutor-General’s office.
The US based Conti Group has not commented on its move, but the Anaklia project and all previous announcements relating to it appear to have been removed from its website.
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