MINISTRY OF ECONOMY
AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
OF GEORGIA

An expression of interest on construction of the Anaklia Deep See Part was announced – the relevant decision was taken by the inter-agency commission, whose session was held in the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development. Heads of Government agencies participated in the commission session chaired by the Vice Prime Minister, Levan Davitashvili.

According to the decision of the commission, the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development will identify the best investor for the project in a few months with the involvement of international consultants. At the same time, the state will update the existing engineering/environmental studies and start certain preoperational construction works required for the port.

Following the revealing of the winner of the expression of interest, a joint company will be established together with the selected investor, where it is planned that the state will be the owner of a 51% share, while the private partner will be the owner of a 49% share. It will be an institutional public-private cooperation format, within the framework of which the joint company will ensure the raising of funds necessary for the implementation of the project, bring the construction works of the port to the end and start its operations.

The working group and the commission, with the help of the international consultants of the Agency, will evaluate the received applications in a period of one to two months (depends on the number of applications). Applications will be evaluated based on the technical, investment, financial, human resource management and operational requirements. Qualified candidates will be informed no later than July 17, 2023 and requested to submit proposals within the certain deadline. As a result of the evaluation, the commission will identify the winner (or several best candidates) and start negotiations on the concession contract and the partnership agreement.

Reference period required to identify the winner is approximately 12 months.

At the end of the session, the members of the interdepartmental commission approved the expression of interest, which is the documentation for selecting the private partner of the project at the first stage, which was reflected in the protocol of the commission session.