Anaklia Development Consortium CEO: there is no hope for constructive discussions with the Government
By Inga Kakulia
Wednesday, October 16
Georgian Minister of Infrastructure, Maia Tskitishvili spoke about the topic and said that if the Anaklia Development Consortium fails to finalize agreements with potential investors and financial institutions to bring in $520 million in total in investments, the government may cancel its investment agreement with the consortium.
Per the agreement made in June 2019, the deadline for the Anaklia Development Consortium to obtain the needed $400 million in loans from international financial institutions and to put forward its capital of $120 million is the end of 2019.
Levan Akhvediani referenced the comments made by the Minister of Infrastructure and said that the speech made it obvious that the government is not willing to cooperate. During her speech, Maya Tskitishvili also mentioned that the letter submitted by the consortium on October 10, to the government. According to Maya Tskitishvili, the letter did not provide any insight on plans or suggestions for better cooperation. Levan Akhvlediani disagrees, stating that the letter submitted to the government contained detailed steps for project development.
"The letter that we sent on Thursday was written by lawyers, we cannot disclose its contents because we are not going to breach the contract, but I want to tell you that it contained exactly what steps are needed to move the project forward, so I do not agree with today's statement. That there seems to be nothing written about the following steps, - said Levan Akhvlediani.
When asked about the call from the Minister of Infrastructure to submit the necessary documents, and the plans in case the government terminates the contract, the CEO of the Anaklia Consortium replied that in that case, the consortium would have to turn to a legal dispute.
“It has been said today that unless we submit concrete documents by tomorrow, the government has the right to terminate the contract. I would like to say with full responsibility that if the government goes down this path, no high-profile investor or international financial institution will back this project, and that project will be stalled for a long time. Therefore, we once again hope that the government will take reasonable measures,” said Levan Akhvlediani.
The Anaklia Development Consortium was given the deadline by the end of 2019 to obtain the funding needed to build the first phase of the port, as well as raising its capital, and by the end of the year, the consortium had to submit $ 400m of loan agreements. The same amendment set the interim deadline, namely that on October 15 the consortium will fulfill two obligations - presenting binding contracts with potential investors to raise $ 120 million in the capital, the entry into force of which depends on banks attracting $ 400 million in loans. The second obligation is to submit preliminary agreements signed with international banks to attract $ 400 million in loans that will be acceptable to the Government of Georgia on the part of the Government.