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Georgia to spend $49mn on purchase of 44 new metro cars
Georgia increased re-export of cars to Kyrgyzstan
up with the pre-pandemic record of $733 million in 2019.
The first half of 2022 saw a whopping 31 per cent year-on-year growth, and the cars’ share in exports has risen to 12 per cent.
Car enthusiasts from the United Arab Emirates have become Georgia’s most extravagant customers, purchasing new luxury vehicles from licensed dealers at an average price of $66,000 per pop, according to government statistics. But the bulk of the business is in cheaper cars sold to other countries in the former Soviet Union.
“I know it had been gutted and reassembled, but they’ve done a good job: it runs well and looks good,” one Kazakh man told Eurasianet after taking a 2021 Toyota Land Cruiser for a test drive at Georgia’s largest physical automobile market, in the town of Rustavi just outside Tbilisi. “Plus, the newer and fancier the car, the more it makes sense to buy them here, because back home they charge a higher rate of taxes and duties on the older cars,” he said.
Georgia’s government plans to purchase 44 new metro cars for the capital Tbilisi’s metro system, at a cost of $49.2mn.
Tbilisi City Hall is working on the project with specialists from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
“Tbilisi Metro will have eight new metro cars by 2022, while the remaining 36 will be purchased by 2024,” Tbilisi City Hall said.
Guramishvili, Station Square, Sarajishvili, Marjanishvili, Freedom Square, 300 Aragveli, Rustaveli, Isani, Tsereteli, and Nadzaladevi metro stations will also be renovated with the support of the EBRD.
A contract for the renovation of Gotsiridze metro station was also reportedly signed with LTD Mamisoni on November 11. Renovations will be finished in about half a year.
In November, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved a new €101mn loan for improving infrastructure in Georgia. Included in plans for this funding were upgrades to Tbilisi’s municipal metro system, possibly involving new metro cars among other measures.
Georgia increased its re-export value of cars shipped to Kyrgyzstan in 1H22, Trend reported on July 26, citing the Georgian National Statistical
Office. Re-export of cars from Georgia to Kyrgyzstan in the first six months of this year amounted to $8.7mn, representing an increase of 81.2% y/y. Georgia re-exported 1,525 cars to Kyrgyzstan, compared to 536 cars in 1H21. Meanwhile, the total value of Georgia's re-exported cars in 1H22 totalled $191mn, marking a decrease of 6.8% y/y (the figure was $205mn in 1H21).
9.1.5 Tourism sector news
Georgia reports the fastest recovery in the tourism sector in the region
The Georgian tourism sector and the country’s economy are “resistant to challenges” and have “one of the fastest” recovery rates in the region, said Irakli Nadareishvili, the Deputy Minister of Economy, at the opening ceremony of a 4-star hotel in the centre of Georgia’s capital Tbilisi.
The minister underlined that the investment in the hotel project has amounted to $3.5mn and pointed out more than 40 people have already been employed, adding that some rooms have been adapted to the needs of persons with disabilities.
Nadareishvili said the hotel has been “another good example” that the Georgian tourism sector has been enjoying “growing interest” from both tourists and investors, while also highlighting the revenue from tourism in July, which exceeded the figures from 2019 by 20%. For the first time after the
58 GEORGIA Country Report October 2022 www.intellinews.com