Supsa Port—Another of the National Movement’s Bluffs

Nino Mshvidobadze, Guria

Before the 2010 local governmental elections, the local government of the Lanchkhuti district, the Guria regional governor and the then-majoritarian MP from the Lanchkhuti district repeatedly spoke about the construction of a port in Supsa. The port’s total area was planned to incorporate 180 hectares. An investment of 750 million USD in the project was planned, and the annual circulation of the port was predicted to be 40 million tons.

Construction of the port was planned to be carried out in Grigoleti village, on the seashore. It was to have six docks.

The company Black Sea Products was to construct the port, whose territory was to occupy 46 hectares, and whose total infrastructural area was to encompass 180 hectares. SakHydroMsheni Company was to implement construction activities.

An agreement between Black Sea Products and the then-Minister of Economy was signed in 2009.

Black Sea Products, whose director is Shalva Tsakadzem, is a Georgian-foreign Company. In a July 2010 meeting at the Lanchkhuti district’s administrative office, Tsakadze said that  the port would be particularly busy on the right bank of the Supsa River, where, according to him, a ship of any size could sail into the 18-meter-deep canyon.

According to information released two years ago, a railway ferry was to be established on the left bank of the Supsa River, which would have linked the railway station and the port. A ferry bridge was also planned to be constructed.

The six-dock port was to serve container and combined fuel, corn, and vehicle transportation. There were to be reverse lines, as well. Supposedly, after the port’s completion, about 2,500 people were to be employed at both terminals.

Lanchkhuti district’s former governor, Giorgi Goguadze, believed that the Supsa port was a significant project for Lanchkhuti, not only for Supsa. He said that the port infrastructure would be located in Lanchkhuti, creating an industrial zone from which the local budget would have received income; in addition, the local population would have been employed on its construction.

Guria regional governor Valeri Chitaishvili said: “Supsa Port will be deeper than Batumi and Poti Ports, and it will be able to receive larger ships. About 3,000 people will be employed there during the construction of the port, and 2,500 people will be permanently employed there afterwards. Preparation work has already started. Large terminals will be also constructed and a lot of cargo ships will stop there.”

According to humanrights.ge, Black Sea Products, Ltd. was founded on October 10, 2008. Its director was Sardion Makatsaria, born in Sokhumi in 1971. However, on March 17, 2009, based on the decree of the Revenue Service of the Ministry of Finance, Makatsaria was dismissed from the position and Tbilisi resident Shalva Tsakadze replaced him. According to the company’s description, its occupations were fishing, fish production and industry, the production of fish powder and oil, and others that were not prohibited by Georgian legislation. The founders of the company were four people and one legal entity, the M&D International Trading Gang, which was registered in the Swiss trading center Tsugi Canton. The company owns 445,338 square meters of land in the Guria region.

As for the Supsa port, the only available information about it was released by local media and the official website of the Lanchkhuti district administration; according to this information, 600-750 million USD were to be spent on the implementation of the Supsa Port project by the end of 2012. According to preliminary calculations, annual cargo circulation in the port would have been 40 million tons. The owners of Black Sea Products said that Kazakhstan had made a serious application for import rights. Who is Shalva Tsakadze? An internet search shows that Shalva Tsakadze is an employee of the Gldani-Nadzaladevi district administration in Tbilisi, but it is not known whether this is the same Shalva Tsakadze. Newspaper Seven Days spread information about the company, alleging that Black Sea Products was initially registered in Switzerland: “Its starting capital was 200 euro. Then the company moved to Italy. Currently, it is registered on some off-shore island, so it is not known who exactly is investing millions of USD in it to destroy the Georgian ecosystem,” the publication wrote.

Black Sea Products purchased land from the local population for a meager price—one square meter for five USD. Humanrights.ge located these people, who are now protesting this deal and have already appealed to courts.

A woman from Supsa said that if somebody was against selling an agricultural or estate plot to Black Sea Products, he or she was under persistent oppression from police officers.

She added that the offered price was absolutely unacceptable for them.

No construction activities are going on in the territory where Supsa Port was to be constructed by 2012. Supsa residents said they have not noticed any transportation in the area for a long time. The only work implemented in the area has been the partial drying of a small lake, although the property of about 35 local families was sacrificed to the project.

Member of the Republic Party Roman Bitsadze said the issue of Supsa Port was raised in March of 2010. “A head of the working group was in Lanchkhuti at that time. The project was ambitious enough. About 700 million USD were to be spent on it over four years. Everybody hoped for this project’s completion. However, some people were skeptic about the realistic viability of the port. I did doubt this project, but not because of my membership in the opposition party. My doubts were based on a set of issues. The first doubt appeared when the canyon’s depth was discussed. Supsa’s fuel terminal was installed on a floating dock one and half kilometers away from the seashore; if there were enough depth, the terminal would have been installed on a floating dock at the seashore to receive large ships.  I also know from geological data that the water is not deep in that area. They alleged there was an 18-meter-deep canyon, but any person would assume that if it was so deep, the River Supsa would not flow into the sea so slowly. The main point is that there was serious speculation. [The company owners] were eager to get a hold of local plots at a low price.”

Bitsadze thinks the territory is strategic, and it would have been easy to sell it at a good price after having acquired it.

Pavle Tevzadze, a local employee of Black Sea Products, told humanrights.ge: “I was an ordinary employee. I know that they purchased 150 hectares of land. They paid different prices for the plots—a part of them was purchased for 5 USD, while they paid 10-20 USD for another. The company heads are abroad, so we have stopped activities.”

We asked the chairman of the municipal board Revaz Chitidze to comment on the issue:

“It is a private company and information about the amount of investment and company plans is not public, so I do not know anything about it, either. I know there is a business plan, within the frame of which the land was purchased, but construction activities have been suspended at the moment; I do not know when they will resume work.”

The only person who did not sell his plot to Black Sea Products is Badri Kutalashvili, from Lanchkhuti. Humanrights.ge asked him to comment on the issue:

“I owned a large plot in that territory. Initially, the company representatives offered 35 USD per square meter of land, but they eventually reduced the price to 5 USD. They paid 25 USD for the land located near the seashore. The plot was too prospective. Five years ago, the company Wissol offered me 35 USD for my plot and further employment in their company. I requested a property value assessment of my plot and I did not sell it to Wissol for the offered price. The market price of my plot is 150 USD. Black Sea Products offered only 25 USD to me. I do not know who got in touch with me; he said he was Tsakadze, but I do not know whether he represented the company or not. They negotiated, saying that they would give me an alternative plot in an area which I did not like at all—it was in the swamp while my plot is located close to the motorway and the shoreline. Afterwards, they started oppressing me, saying, “We will seize the plot from you and we will not pay anything at all.” They used to send police officers to me. Then I told them to pay me the price which was offered by another company; otherwise, I was not going to sell it. Finally, MP Giorgi Goguadze called me and said he would send his people to negotiate with me. He added that he did not want to intimidate me. I replied to him that they had already threatened me. Afterwards, prosecutor Kochivari summoned me to Ozurgeti and asked me to provide documents. He started to question me about the boundaries of my property and who my neighbors were, and I answered all his questions. They called me to Ozurgeti twice. I was under psychological oppression: they alleged I had misappropriated the plot when I occupied a high position. I told them I would not give them my plot even if I die. I am a retired teacher; they cannot make me give the plot to the state as a present! They threatened me with accusations of crimes; they threatened me, but all in vain. I did not give them my plot for the price they offered.

Afterwards, my son sent English investors to me; they examined my plot and went to the former district governor. Goguadze promised them any land that they desired. We agreed that they would transfer part of the land price to me, and I would join their business to cover another part of the price. We signed an agreement, and several days later they called and said the district governor had not replied to them, and they asked me to hurry up or else they were not going to make any investments.”

-Do you think the government hindered the project?

-Yes, it is true. Goguadze hindered this investment. They wanted to construct a port there…but where is the promised port? They claimed all of western Georgia would get employed there, but where is it now? Let them explain to the people why they compelled them to sell their plots for low prices.

Humanrights.ge tried to get in touch with Shalva Tsakadze, but we could not get his contact information. Currently, the partially-dried lake is the only visible result of the port project.