Georgian PM says Eagle Hills project’s total effect on country's economy to be approximately ₾11 billion

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Tuesday said the Eagle Hills project and its agreement were absolutely flawless, and the total effect on the country's economy would be approximately ₾11 billion [$4.07 billion], which would also contribute to the development of tourism sector.

“The project and the agreement are absolutely flawless. It will bring only positive benefits to our country - this is an average of ₾700 million [$259 million] to the budget per year, which will enter the budget in two different forms: these are taxes - about ₾500 million [$185 million] and plus ₾200 million [$74 million] from this 33 percent profit. This is an additional contribution to the economy”, the PM said.

“Approximately, ₾11 billion [$4.07 billion] will be the total effect on the country's economy, we are talking about a huge scale effect, this is the second one. Of course, it will contribute to the development of tourism. Employment - here too, we have provided specific data on how many temporary and permanent jobs will be created in the country, these are huge figures. When one project makes such a significant contribution to the economy, budget, and employment, there is no need to talk about what the benefits could be for the country, the state, and the population. The benefits are enormous, the drawbacks are none”, he continued.

Kobakhidze further noted that one of the opponents' messages was “Arabisation”, which was speculation, adding it was important that the public listened to the arguments and not to the empty messages that were often heard.

“What are the opponents talking about, where did they imagine such shortcomings and risks? There is one message - Arabisation. Here I would like to recall that in 2022 they launched a campaign three times regarding Russification and claimed that the Government had missed the situation, that so many Russians had entered that they would destroy Georgia, that this would create a security problem, that suddenly Russia would announce that it would invade Georgia to protect these citizens, a thousand crazy things were heard then, which, by the way, many of our conscientious fellow citizens also followed, many people were misled, there was an emotional background and this is understandable, you cannot blame anyone for this. Therefore, the main thing is for the public to listen to the arguments, and not to the empty messages that are often heard. There were three waves of this campaign, one - when the war started, the first wave was then immigration, the second was when the tourist season started and the third was when the Russian Government announced military mobilisation. There were three waves and in all three cases we were very boldly telling the public that we were taking responsibility for everything, everything was under control and there would be no risks. What we said, we fulfilled after three years”, Kobakhidze said.

“In total, approximately 16,000 apartments or residential buildings are planned to be sold. We are talking about a period of approximately 5-6 years. This means that approximately 3,000 apartments can be sold per year in both locations together. This applies to both the Gonio and Krtsanisi territories. In recent years, an average of 15,000 apartments have been sold to foreigners annually, five times more, and this has not created any demographic problems. It is unnecessary to talk here that this project could create any demographic catastrophe. Moreover, we are not talking about Arabs specifically here. It is a shameful topic that we have to talk about, but if someone does not like a specific ethnic group, an Arab, or a Russian, etc., here too we are not talking about selling these apartments to any specific ethnic group”, he continued.

The Government head recalled the assumption of the head of Emaar and Eagle Hills that the sales rate to foreigners would be approximately 60 percent.

“In reality, a super-modern type of space is being built, which will be new, including a tourist space, which will make the Adjara region, Tbilisi in particular, very interesting and attractive. This project has only advantages, no disadvantages. We take responsibility for the rest from start to finish”, he concluded.