Page 44 - GEORptAug19

several stages. Eiffage Europe is among Europe’s top five construction companies.
During the first phase works, 90% of employees will be local residents. A total of 1,500 people will be employed in construction.
“The French company has been actively involved in the completion of a detailed design of the first phase of the Anaklia Port,” ADC said.
Eiffage was founded in 1844. The company has implemented such large-scale projects as the Port of Barcelona in Spain and Port of Dakar in Senegal, and bridges and railways in many European countries, including EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg Switzerland and Airport Crete in Greece, and Great Bridges El Tigre Viaduct and Unibridge bridges in Colombia and Philippines, respectively.
US port Operator SSA Marine, appointed as port operator of Anaklia deep water port, meanwhile, has demanded that Anaklia's port will be the only deep-sea port in Georgia over a certain period of time, Levan Akhvlediani, director general of ADC, told InterPressNews.
This adds to the eight requests expressed by ADC on behalf of the international financial institutions financing the project. Seven out of the eight requests were already agreed by the government. The sole request not settled regards the government’s guarantees if a situation of insufficient throughput in the port arises. In some sense, the new request expressed by SSA Marine is a substitute for the unsettled request.
"We made a great effort to ensure our partners, the port operator, that the project is supported by the government, but because of the developments in May [when the government issued permits for a new deep water port in Georgia, at Poti], they decided to express an additional demand. They are ready to engage in the project, invest and meet the deadlines in a timely way, but a new condition was put forward. Their reaction was caused by the ambiguity of the issues related to the port,” said Akhvlediani.
ADC in June 2017 appointed the US-based SSA Marine as the terminal operator for the planned port.
ADC, which groups Georgian and US investors among others, warned on May 30 that it was “on the verge of stopping” its project in Anaklia because, in a “shocking” move, Georgia’s economy and sustainable development ministry was set to issue a permit for port construction in Poti, a location a little further south on Georgia’s Black Sea coast.
However, later on May 30 Georgian Economy Minister Natia Turnava announced that a deep-water port in Poti would not be built as the permit green-lighted for the port had been cancelled.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $415mn loan for the construction of a 23-km highway between Kvesheti and Kobi in Georgia’s mountains along the North-South Transport Corridor. The project will cost $550mn.
The route, important for freight transport in the region including in neighbouring countries, is frequently closed during the winter.
The project is part of a large-scale plan. Officials aim to use it to help improve the transport network and establish Georgia as the region's trade and tourism hub.
“The new road will allow for safer and faster movement for locals, tourists and truck drivers alike, especially on the Jvari Pass where there is a high level of avalanche hazard in winter, "the ADB said in a statement.
The North-South Transport Corridor passes along a difficult geographical route characterised by heavy snowfalls that block roads in the winter period.
The highway will be a two-lane, 22.7-km long asphalt-concrete road and will
44 GEORGIA Country Report August 2019 www.intellinews.com