PM Garibashvili: no communication with Erdogan on failure of $800mln Namakhvani HPP project

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili says that ‘of course’ he had no communication with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sinceTurkish company ENKA suspended a 800million USD HPP project in Georgia last week due to ‘violation of contract terms.’ 

Garibashvili says that the issue concerns the ‘Georgian government and the contractor company only.’ 

He says that the final fate of the project will be decided in one-month-time, as well as the form and the amount of the fine the government will have to pay for the violation of contract conditions. 

Garibashvili claims that the ‘many points’ in the contract signed between ENKA and the Georgian government ‘were unacceptable’ for him. However,it was the project which he ‘inherited’ from previous PMs. 

He stated that the government had the right to make the project more acceptable for Georgians and that is why there was communication with the investor. 

The project has caused large turmoil in Georgia and demonstrations earlier this year, with opponents accusing the government of signing a ‘cabal agreement’ with ENKA.