According to our decision, the port of Anaklia will be built with the participation of the state - the state will own 51%, we will announce an international competition for the rest. Such a statement made today the Prime Minister of Georgia.

“This project is abandoned, the place is desolate. They turned the place into a nest of dust. Therefore, it is categorically unacceptable. We should urgently select international partner companies and we should also start investing in this project.

This project will be implemented with our participation, the state will implement this project together with foreign or other companies.

Everyone knows that the decision to build this port was made back in 2016. Before that, even during my first premiership, we openly talked about this issue, we used all tribunes and platforms for this, including from the UN tribune.

In 2016, a contract was signed, an investor was selected, who failed to fulfill its obligation. Under this commitment, we were to receive the first ships in 2020. The government postponed the obligation several times, 3 – 4 times, and despite this, the investor was still unable to attract investments. According to my information, [Mamuka] Khazaradze and his partner, [Badri] Japaridze, have spent USD 3 million.

The remaining amounts, approximately 20-25 mln have been attracted from investors. Instead, they demanded a guarantee of cargo from the Government. The land was ours, we had to hand it over and we did. They demanded the construction of roads and railways.

The Government had to spend hundreds of millions and not get anything in return, that is, in fact, it was a gift to Khazaradze.

After dropping this project after 4-5 years and failing to implement it, these people decided to loot our country and why? They sued the country in arbitration and today they are disputing USD 1.5 billion.

Can you imagine what is happening? In 5 years, a person failed to fulfill any of his obligations, abandoned the project, did not build a port, and today he disputes 1.5 billion with the country and our people. This is a classic robbery scheme.

Of course, we know very well that no real, sincere, honest purpose and intention was behind the construction of this port. It was the idea of getting rich and looting. A few months ago, I instructed the Ministry of Economy and active work is going on, we are preparing a new tender, a competition”, - said Irakli Garibashvili.