MINISTRY OF ECONOMY
AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
OF GEORGIA

First Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Levan Davitashvili spoke in detail about the progress of the development of the new Tbilisi International Airport project - according to the government's decision, the airport will be built in Vaziani.

Levan Davitashvili said that for several months, the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development has been working intensively in this direction and the relevant studies have been conducted by the Asian Development Bank. Considering that the military airport is located in Vaziani, the studies were carried out in close coordination with the Ministry of Defence. According to the Minister, the opinions of the Ministry of Defence are reflected in the decision and there are no questions regarding the country's defence capability.

"Along with the economic growth, the passenger flow at the Tbilisi International Airport should increase significantly - our calculation is that by 2050 it could reach around 19 million people. Of course, we do not mean only tourism here, it is more mobility of our citizens, i.e. more international connections. Naturally, this mobility increases with the growth of the economy and the development of the country. We have very clear calculations and a plan - the airport should be developed in such a way that it can freely serve this number of passengers. Also, the airport should be developed in such a way that it can perform an international connecting function - this applies to both passenger and cargo shipments, and in this regard, the development of the airport in the new territory will respond to our tasks," – the First Vice Prime Minister stated.

As Levan Davitashvili noted, this is an investment project of over one billion USS and its complete two phases will cost up to 1 billion 200 million USD. These are important investments that will be made in the country's economy. The mentioned decision will have a very serious economic effect - the growth of the economy will increase by 0,2%, which means that during the next years, on average, approximately 350 million GEL will be added to the economy of Georgia. In addition, according to the assessment of the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, the development of the airport project will be a new impetus for Tbilisi and urban and spatial development in general, in terms of connectivity between the capital and Rustavi. The project will also be important for the population of Rustavi in terms of employment - new jobs will be created in various sectors.

First Vice Prime Minister commented over the timeline of the project – at this stage, navigational studies are being conducted, which started in the middle of the last year and will be completed in the nearest future. After that, the configuration of the new runway will be determined, which is a necessary prerequisite for the development of the master plan.

"After that, we start the master plan competition, which will start in the nearest future. With this plan and in parallel with the general plan, we will move to the designing stage. Our task is to have a perfect, detailed plan by the end of 2025, as stated by the Prime Minister, which will allow us to move to the construction stage. According to our evaluation, it will take 3 years - by the end of 2028, we will be able to have a modern, new infrastructure in order to make the first flights and fully load this airport," – Levan Davitashvili stated.

The Minister of Economy also talked about the airport management - according to his information, an international consulting company was involved in this process, which offered an analysis of all existing common models in the world.

"There are quite interesting experiences regarding the management, several options are clearly preferable for our conditions - the state retains full control and ownership of the airport and brings in a management company with professional and efficient management experience. Here too, of course, appropriate efficiency indicators will be determined so that the owner as well as the operator have the right motivation and the airport is focused on being efficient and bringing the profit," – the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development said.