Poti New Sea Port LLC (DFC-2024-POTINEWSEAPO)

Regions
  • Europe and Central Asia
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • Georgia
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Specific Location
Poti
Whenever identified, the area within countries where the impacts of the investment may be experienced. Exact locations of projects may not be identified fully or at all in project documents. Please review updated project documents and community-led assessments.
Financial Institutions
  • US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Approved
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
B
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Borrower
Poti New Sea Port LLC, Transford LLC
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Agriculture and Forestry
  • Industry and Trade
  • Infrastructure
  • Transport
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Loan
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 25.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Loan Amount (USD)
$ 25.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 33.12 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Bank Documents
Other Related Projects
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ DFC website

Updated in EWS Dec 16, 2024

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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

As stated by the DFC, the Project is expected to have a positive development impact in Georgia by increasing maritime transport capacity and improving the country’s ability to function as a transit hub between Europe and Asia.
The Project is expected to increase the cargo throughput capacity of Poti New Sea Port by reconstructing a new berth, deepening the seabed to accommodate larger ships, and providing modern cargo handling systems. Modernizing port infrastructure in Georgia will also contribute to global food security by increasing the availability of large bulk handling services for fertilizer and cargo in the Black Sea along the Middle Corridor, which offers an alternative to transport routes through Russia.
The Project is also expected to address economic growth challenges in the Samegrelo-Zemo region, an underdeveloped region within Georgia that has the highest percentage of poor households in the country. The Project will support jobs in an area that suffers from high rates of poverty and unemployment and procure goods and services from local businesses.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.
Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

As stated on the company's LinkedIn profile, TRANSFORD, a premier entity within the Pace Group, was founded in 2010 through a collaboration between Pace International, based in New York, and Pace Georgia, to spearhead cargo operations at Poti Sea Port. Expanding its footprint, TRANSFORD also embarked on operations at the newly completed Poti New Sea Port in January 2022, a project realized with the Pace Group and the support of the United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC). With a robust portfolio in managing Container, bulk and break bulk cargo activities, TRANSFORD has established itself as a key player in the maritime logistics sector.

Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
PACE Group of Companies Parent Company Industry and Trade owns Transford LLC Client Infrastructure

Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

No project contacts provided at the time of disclosure.

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

Unlike many other development finance institutions, DFC does not currently have an access to information policy.

Under the United States Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), DFC is obliged to respond to reasonably formulated requests for Agency records. However, DFC may apply exemptions from release to certain types of information and may charge fees in responding to requests. DFC has a designated FOIA officer who is trained in how to respond to requests and implement the law. You can learn more about filing a FOIA request at: https://www.dfc.gov/foia

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF THE UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT FINANCE CORPORATION (DFC)

The Office of Accountability is an independent office that addresses complaints about environmental or social issues related to DFC-supported projects. The office provides communities an opportunity to have concerns independently reviewed and addressed. If you submit a complaint to the Office of Accountability, it may assist you by either seeking to address your problems by facilitating a problem solving dialogue between you and those implementing the project and/or investigating whether the DFC complied with its policies to prevent environmental, social, human rights, and labor harms.

You can find more information about the Office of Accountability at: https://www.dfc.gov/who-we-are/office-accountability

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