📍 “When carrying out the construction of the port of Anaklia, the clear task and the main postulate should be to get the maximum and stable profit for the state over the years, and there should not be any politics here.”
🔷 Chairman of the parliamentary political group “European Socialists” Fridon Injia stated this at the plenary session of the Parliament, where the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Levan Davitashvili was heard on the issue of the construction of the port of Anaklia.
🔷 The chairman of the political group positively evaluated the decision made by the country’s government a few months ago, according to which the state became the owner of the control package of a number of strategically important objects, and Anaklia port is among them.
🔷 “I believe that it is necessary to invite the minister on such issues and this is a step forward on the way of democratic development of our country. Ultimately, as a result of this process, you will make adjustments to the project and the legislature will be aware of it.
🔷 I cannot tell you what happened and why the construction of Anaklia port was delayed in previous years, but I consider the decision of the Georgian government to become the owner of the control package of strategically important objects a great achievement.
🔷 This is the participation of the state in strategic infrastructure, and as it happened, the state decided to have a control package in such strategic infrastructure as Hudon Hess or others, including the port of Anaklia. This is a great achievement.
🔷Our party “European Socialists” has been talking about this in practically every speech for almost three years. It would be welcome if the state always had such an approach to objects of strategic importance. Then, the country will take a completely different look and develop differently.
🔷 I think that during the implementation of the project, the clear task and the main postulate should be the maximum and stable profit for years, and there should not be any politics here. – said the MP.
🔷 As for the fact that the state has lost profit due to the delay in the construction of the project for years, according to the deputy, with the policy that the country’s government is doing now, which involves the transfer of 51% of the control package to the state, this loss will be compensated by this.
🔷 The deputy believes that the minimization of operational costs should be taken into account during the implementation of the project.
🔷 “If, for example, a Chinese company won the tender, I don’t see a problem here. It is very important that the Georgian government signed an agreement with China as a strategic partner, because for years, Chinese investment in Georgia was blocked. It was not allowed. I don’t know how you got this permission, but it is the most important thing. Practically, the implementation of Chinese and Iranian investments in Georgia was prohibited.
🔷 If we act in the interests of the country and want the living conditions of our population to improve and the standard of living to rise, then the government should do everything to implement these investments. In such a case, the population of the country will not go to a foreign country, and on the contrary, the emigrants will return to their homeland.
🔷 Therefore, you should be guided by the first postulate, which I focused on in the chapter – getting the maximum and stable profit from this project”. – noted the MP.
🔷 The chairman of the political group believes that in the implementation of the project, an important role is played by increasing the cargo turnover. All the more so if we take into account that there is not much cargo turnover in the ports operating in the country today.
🔷 “During the construction of the port of Anaklia, we must take into account the increase in cargo turnover and its cargo provision. Therefore, it would be desirable for the party participating in 49% of the control package to be involved in the haulage. And if that 49% is managed by a Swiss company, or if you want an Austrian company, it will not be able to load the port. And if, for example, it will be the Chinese side, whether you want the Kazakh side, or a representative of an Asian country, then this will somehow allow us to talk to them about increasing the cargo turnover, otherwise, it will be a futile activity,” said the MP.
🔷 Fridon Injia, in his speech regarding the construction of the port of Anaklia, focused on the smooth operation of the transport infrastructure and noted that this is one of the most important factors for the implementation of this project.
🔷 “Another important issue, in order to attract cargo, proper operation of the transport infrastructure is needed, and first of all, it is the railway. It is important that the railway or transport infrastructure is in order. Because on the one hand, we build a port and there is ready cargo from there, but it cannot go to the destination because of bad infrastructure, this is not allowed and therefore it is important in this factor itselfsaid the chairman of the political group.