Georgia may cooperate with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in the construction of the land infrastructure of the Anaklia port, - Finance Minister Lasha Khutsishvili, who is participating in the 58th annual meetings of the ADB in Milan, stated in an interview with an InterpressNews correspondent.
In addition to the ADB, Khutsishvili does not rule out cooperation with other interested financial institutions in the land infrastructure of the port. However, he notes that at this stage the Asian Development Bank expresses its desire to allocate a sovereign loan to Georgia, which the state will include in the control package of the land infrastructure of the Anaklia port.
"The Anaklia port is financed from the budget. At the first stage, we have started the development of water infrastructure. 220 million GEL has already been allocated for this. The necessary funds will be added to this amount in subsequent years. It is important to note that the water infrastructure will be 100% state-owned. The second part includes the land infrastructure of the Anaklia port, where the state is looking for a partner. This partner will enter into 49%, and the state will have a controlling stake of 51%.
In the construction of land infrastructure, we may cooperate with, among others, the Asian Development Bank or other financial institutions that are willing. For example, the ADB is willing to allocate funding to the state,” Lasha Khutsishvili said.
As he added, the Asian Development Bank will not be a party to the Anaklia Port project; in particular, the ADB may issue a sovereign loan to Georgia for land infrastructure and then allocate the necessary funds for the project from the state budget.
The minister also specifies that the Anaklia Port will be a “Georgian clean water project,” which will be financed from the budget and the controlling stake will be in the hands of the state.
“I would like to note that the Anaklia port is a purely Georgian port and it cannot be called by any other name. In general, we have such cooperation with the ADB and other financial institutions - in all projects that are implemented with sovereign financing, the guarantor is the state, the state receives loan financing and, accordingly, these funds are spent from the state budget. The Asian Development Bank will not be a participant in the project,” said Lasha Khutsishvili.
As a reminder, the construction work of the maritime infrastructure of the Anaklia port is being carried out by the Belgian company Jan De Nul, which announced an international tender. According to the Ministry of Economy, one of the largest European companies in the world will carry out works on deepening the port’s water area and constructing a breakwater in Anaklia. The port plans to receive its first ship in 2029.
