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Monday,
August 20,
2007, #158 (1425)
Management rights for state-owned Georgian Railway are to be leased out for 89 years to the British company Parkfield, announced Minister of Economic Development Giorgi Arveladze on August 16. In recent months, speculation mounted that the state was planning to sell off the rail company in its privatization drive. Arveladze, announcing the lease, repeatedly emphasized that the rail company itself remains in state ownership. According to the news agency Regnum, Arveladze said the state couldn't afford to pump in the cash the railway needed for repairs and investments, making a concession the best bet for the service. Under the deal, Arveladze added, no tariffs or fees will change until 2009, and any price tweaks for five years after that will require state approval. In the same breath the minister brought up the impeding lease of Poti port. A bill adopted in early July stipulates that along with the port, ten hectares of adjacent territory will be set aside to be privately managed as a free economic zone. Only one company,
Rakeen Development of UAE, has so far publicly expressed interest. |
State
leases Georgian Railway management rights to British company