According to the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Levan Davitashvili, it is planned to start the construction of Khudoni HPP in 2023.
As the minister explained at the briefing held after the end of the government meeting, Khudoni HPP will be built with the participation of the state.
According to him, the Government bought the Khudoni HPP project from an investor and the auction will be announced next year.
"The Government has approved an agreement on the purchase of Khudoni hydropower plant. Accordingly, an agreement was made with the investor company and the state took back the project, which will allow us to start implementing the project in 2023 with the active participation of the state. As a rule, such important large energy and strategic projects will be implemented with the active participation of the state of Georgia in the future.
I remind you that this project had a special importance for the electric system of Georgia, for the generation of the system in general, including for increasing the efficiency of the existing Enguri HPP, and accordingly, our decision to conclude a contract through negotiations with the company was finally decided positively. Therefore, we will re-announce this project in the near future, at the beginning of 2023, and start implementing this project again, which is one of the parts of our consistent energy policy, to increase energy independence of the country.
We made a deal with the investor company relating to USD 135 million. We had an international law firm involved in drafting this settlement. Also, with their participation, communication took place between the parties, and I think that these are favorable conditions for Georgia," said Levan Davitashvili.