Founder of ADC: We Will Take this Dispute to International Court

"We will take this dispute to the international court. We will not give up and will expose the actions of all the officials and politicians who deliberately fought against the Anaklia project," Mamuka Khazaradze, the founder of Anaklia Development Consortium, TBC Bank and Lelo movement, told reporters when commenting on the government's decision to cancel the contract with the Anaklia Consortium.

He claimed that Bidzina Ivanishvili, the leader of the Georgian Dream party, Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia and Minister of Infrastructure Maia Tskitishvili were personally involved in the disruption of the Anaklia port project and, moreover, he has documentation proving the above.

“It is a lie that the consortium did not fulfill its obligations. Even today there is an investor and I declare with full responsibility that all the requirements have been fulfilled under the contract. The State deceived the public by extending the deadline and continued taking destructive steps against the implementation of this project. There will be a serious dispute over this. Our government carried out an orchestrated attack on the Anaklia project," he said. 

When asked by journalists whether he intended to pay a fine as Consortium failed to fulfill its contractual obligation, Khazaradze said that the court would answer that question.

“All these questions will be answered by the court. We were expecting this. So there will be a very serious dispute since they are against the interests of our state,” he said.

The Government of Georgia has decided to cancel its contract with the Anaklia Development Consortium and to launch appropriate legal procedures. The issue was discussed at today's governmental meeting and the decision was announced recently.

The topic was the first issue on the agenda of today's governmental meeting.

The Anaklia Development Consortium was to fulfill its duties by December 31, after the government postponed the term for reaching an agreement with potential investors, as well as international banks (EBRD, OPIC, ADB, AIIB) for a loan of $400 million. Another duty of the consortium was to sign a contract with construction contractors. The Georgian government says the Anaklia Development Consortium failed to meet its obligations.

The deadline for obtaining the funding has been postponed six times.

The Georgian government did not cancel the investment agreement with Anaklia Development Consortium on October 15 despite the expired deadline for the consortium to fulfill its interim obligations.

The Anaklia Development Consortium won a state tender to construct the port and signed a deal with the government in 2016 with TBC Holding as its principal partner, but has faced problems in attracting the $2.5 billion in funds needed to construct the port.

Construction of Anaklia Deep Sea Port started in 2017.

By  Ana Dumbadze 

Related Story: Govt' Cancels Contract with Anaklia Development Consortium