On December 12, the Anaklia Development Consortium (ADC) responded to statements made recently by Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili regarding the Anaklia Deep Sea Port, claiming that he made a series of misrepresentations about the project and emphasizing that the PM made assertions about the future of the project which are sure to fail.
The ADC reminded Prime Minister Garibashvili that the International Chamber of Commerce in Geneva is currently hearing arguments in the dispute between the Consortium and the Georgian government regarding the project, emphasizing that the PM will be held accountable for all his false statements today in that forum, as well as before the Georgian public. The ADC said that it is ludicrous for the Georgian state to think it can find a major private investor for Anaklia Port while seeking to assume a 51% controlling interest in the project.
They noted that no serious investor or international financial institution would participate in or lend to a major project such as this if it is majority controlled by the Georgian state, especially given the Georgian state's demonstrated unreliability as a partner in numerous business cases. "It is the kind of corrupt and deluded privatization and concession process that was attempted in Georgia and the other former Soviet Union countries in the 1990s," the report added. The ADC emphasized that it is manifestly incorrect for Prime Minister Garibashvili to want the government to move forward with Anaklia urgently. "Following the cancellation of the Anaklia project, the administration has done nothing for over three years," it added.
The ADC referred to the recently released documentary "The Port That Never Was," which was screened at the Tbilisi International Film Festival (TIFF), saying that the Prime Minister is speaking now only because of the release of an independent documentary on the project, which unveils the deceit of the Government in killing this project. The consortium responded to comments made by PM Garibashvili regarding his support for the development of a sizable port in Poti by saying, "As the Prime Minister very well knows, it has been the Government's continued encouragement of the potential development of a deep water port at Poti that has been one of the major obstacles to banks and private investors in financing the construction of a larger deep water port at Anaklia."
The ADC also accused the Prime Minister of trying to walk a fine line between pretending to encourage the development of Anaklia Port while not alienating his party leader [Bidzina Ivanishvili] and other oligarchic interests with stakes in the development of Poti Port.
Earlier, Caucasus Watch reported that Prime Minister Garibashvili said that the government intends to invest in and own 51% of the Anaklia port. He also said that the consortium failed to fulfill its commitment under its agreement with the government to build the port in 2016.
