Tbilisi Fears over Economic Effect of Adjara Crisis

Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania said on May 3 halt of railway connection with Adjarian Autonomy would be a blow for Georgian Railway and for oil terminal in port of Batumi.

Defiant leadership of the Adjarian Autonomy blew up two key bridges and severed railway, linking the region with the rest of Georgia on May 2.

“Georgian Railway’s incomes will be reduced by 70-75%,” Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania said at a session of the Parliamentary Committee of Budget and Finances on May 2.

Zurab Zhvania also said that in a long-term period developments in Adjara would have negative impact on the country’s GDP.

Georgian Economy Minister Irakli Rekhviashvili said at a news briefing that the oil terminal in Batumi, Adjarian capital, will stop operation, as railway communication has been halted. 

Oil from Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan is supplied to Batumi terminal by rail from Azerbaijani capital Baku. More than 23,000 tone of oil was shipped in the port of Batumi on May 1.

“Georgian railway continued transportation of oil on May 2 and on May 3, but oil has never reached Batumi because the rail link with Adjara is disrupted,” Tamuna Machavariani, a spokesperson for the Georgian Railway told Civil Georgia.