The FINANCIAL — Prime Minister of Georgia, Giorgi Kvirikashvili announced Anaklia Development Consortium to be selected on February 5, 2016, by the Government Commission among the applicant interested in development, building and operation of a deep sea port in Anaklia.
The announcement was made at the press conference at the Chancellery of the Government of Georgia which was also attended by the Vice Prime Minister of Georgia, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia Dimitry Kumsishvili, Finance Minister Nodar Khaduri, one of the Anaklia Development Consortium founders Mamuka Khazaradze, Head of the Partnership Fund David Saganelidze and the representatives of other state and private institutions, according to Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia.
The Anaklia Development Consortium (ADC) is a joint venture between TBC Holding LLC and Conti International LLC, a major United States-based developer of infrastructure and capital projects. Other key partners of the ADC include the leading port designer Moffatt & Nichol and the leading port transaction advisor Maritime & Transport Business Solutions from the Netherlands.
“Development of Anaklia Port is essential for expansion of Georgia’s transit potential and economy as well as for further strengthening of our position on the Silk Road lane. After long discussions and procedures we selected Anaklia Development Consortium which has the perfect capabilities to implement the project. A 3-million termination payment security is already submitted and the final contract shall be signed following all the procedures which are defined for such agreements. I would also like to highlight that this is a very large-scale project which involves several stages and Georgian Government also undertakes obligation to provide road and railway connation as well as all the relevant infrastructure to the Port,” – Dimitry Kumsishvili stated to the journalists.
Vice Prime Minister gave the details of the criteria used by the Government Commission in the process of selecting the candidate. Those criteria included:
a) Financial Criteria (Candidates were required to present a bank guarantee on liabilities which was defined to be of minimum 20 million dollars);
b) Technical Criteria (Draft concept of the Port which was estimated taking into account such characteristics as preliminary design, schedule of implementation, concept of port operation management, local development plan, etc.);
c) Economic Criteria (Financial model of the port which would be in compliance with the preliminary concept of the port. Financial model should have reflected the economic and financial stability as well as the sustainability of the submitted of the offer. Marketing concept and methods of atracting the clients to the port should have been submitted as well);
d) Legal Criteria (Comments and noted regarding the draft investment contract).
In term of 3 month upon the announcement of the selected candidate, final discussions on construction, development, operation and disposal of Anaklia Deep Sea Port shall be held and after there successful completion an investment contract shall be signed by the parties. The contract would be valid for the next 49 years.
According to the contract, the Port shall be constructed following the 9 stages and in the end its cargo turnover shall rich 100 million tones a year. Investor shall be obliged to provide the design of the Port, its construction and operation. The Port shall be transferred to the state upon the expiration date of the contract. At the same time, Georgian Government undertakes obligation to provide road and railway connection to the Port.
Investor undertakes obligation on environmental safety at the moment when the plot of land is transferred into its ownership. Investor is also obliged to follow the requirements of the relevant law as well as the Ramsar Convention and to rehabilitate any damage to the environment.
Construction of Anaklia Port shall consist of several stages and upon its completion the Port will have the capacity to process up to 100 million tons of cargo per year. The Port will have the capacity to process 7 million tones of cargo in 3 years – the very year of starting the operation.
As the representatives of the ADC declare, the project is expected to create as many as 3,400 jobs during the construction stage and 6,400 jobs to operate the Port upon completion. Special training programs shall also be introduced.
New deep sea port will encompass about 400 hectares of land. The Port will have the capacity to berth 10,000 TEU vessels and provide the service to the large (Panamax and post-Panamax type) vessels that are too large to call any of the existing Georgian ports at this stage.
Call for the expressions of interest on construction and development of the deep water port in Anaklia was announced in 2014 and 12 consortiums/companies confirmed their interest in the project. Seven of those candidates entered the shortlist and they were requested to submit a proposal. Some of the candidates submitted their proposals in May-April, last year to the Government Commission. The Commission had proactive discussions with the two candidates which were offered to submit their final proposals. After the detailed consideration of the final proposals the Commission selected the winner candidate – the Anaklia Development Consortium.
Anaklia strategically sits on the shortest route from China to Europe connected by the Silk Road. New port will allow the cargo to be delivered from China and other eastern countries to European countries in significantly shorter period of time (delivery time shall be decreased by approximately 2 weeks). The Port will have positive impact not only on the development of Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti Region, but will also contribute to enhancing of Georgia’s economy in whole as well as to deepening the trade relations between the Europe and the Asia.
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