During a press conference on December 19, Levan Davitashvili, the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, stated that the Georgian government has chosen to purchase the Khudoni HPP project.
The Economy Minister said, "We will increase [energy] generation in Georgia, on the one hand, and increase the country's energy independence, on the other. We have reached an agreement with the investor, and the state has received the project back, which will enable us to launch the project's implementation in 2023 with the active involvement of the state."
Additionally, Davitashvili clarified that the state will spend USD 13.5 million to terminate the project, making the sum very feasible. "We have all of the areas and rights that were given to the corporation back, and we are now free to proceed directly to the project execution stage," he added. The Economy Minister emphasized that moving forward, the state will actively participate in implementing all significant Energy and strategic initiatives. "This is the right course of action, according to the state, and we are certain that we can build strong relationships with the populace and win their support," Davitashvili said. "It will be a Georgian project, a project of the Georgian people, made using Georgian materials, and in the end, the Georgian people will profit economically from the initiative," the Minister stressed.
Notably, in the mountainous area of Svaneti, the construction of the 700-megawatt Khudoni hydropower project would necessitate the construction of a 200-meter-high dam on the Enguri river. The project began in the 1980s but was put on hold before the Soviet Union's fall. The project was revived by the government of former President Mikheil Saakashvili, who hired Trans Electrica to develop the hydropower plant on a build, own, and operate basis. Later, the initiative received assistance from the Georgian Dream administration.
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