EMEA Finance’s Project Finance Awards 2014 awarded Dariali Energy JSC for the Best water project in Central and Eastern Europe: Dariali hydropower plant in Georgia. The EBRD’s support and financing of the Dariali hydropower plant was recognized and TBC Bank was presented with two awards in the EMEA Finance Project Finance Awards, the Dariali hydropower plant, and the best transport infrastructure deal in the region, for the East-West highway improvement project in Georgia.
The project centers on a 108MW hydropower plant and a substation on the Tergi River in northeastern Georgia, with a total investment cost of US$120mn. The plant is being developed by Dariali Energy, a joint venture between Georgian companies PERI LLC, Energy LLC, Robbins Company of the US and the state-owned Georgian Energy Development Fund.
A delegation from Georgia took to the stage to discuss growing opportunities in the country’s project finance market. Speaking at the Dealmakers Forum, held by EMEA Finance magazine at One Whitehall Place on London’s Pall Mall, the group consisted of David Managadze, principal banker, power and energy, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Zurab Alavidze, general director, Dariali Energy JSC, Guram Gotsadze and Irakli Diasamidze, senior corporate bankers, from TBC Bank.
Speaking before an audience of senior executives and investment bankers, subjects discussed include the ongoing construction of the Dariali Hydropower Project, which will see a 108MW hydropower plant and sub-station built on the Tergi River in northeast Georgia. Project financing comprised up to 80 million USD. The total investment cost of the Dariali project is 120 million USD.
“Georgia is a very interesting country and we have to deal with a lot of infrastructure needs,” said Zurab. “Our main opportunities are in the energy sector, transport and tourism. The Dariali project was the first public private partnership [PPP] in Georgia and of four shareholders, three of them were Georgian companies- Peri LLC, Georgian Energy Development Fund JSC, Energy LLC.”