Road connection: TAM/Veli site has a direct connection to the road Tbilisi - Rustavi (the largest industrial city in the Tbilisi region). The envisaged road access of the future ILC guarantees a connection via country road to the main highway S9 (Poti (S1) - Tbilisi - Baku/Yerevan). The nearest junction with the main highway is about 7 km away. The existing country road, which connects the land plot with the main highway, is in poor condition and will have to be repaired and upgraded.

Railway connection: The future ILC area at TAM/Veli will link to the TRACECA railway line (Poti - Tbilisi - Baku) in cooperation with the Container Terminal Veli. The CT Veli, adjacent in the north of the TAM territory, is situated on the main railway line (Poti - Tbilisi - Baku) and will be used for railroad transhipment operations. The Tbilisi Marshalling station (located roughly 3 km away from TAM/Veli) is the main railway junction for directions to Azerbaijan and Armenia). Georgian Railway JSC is currently implementing the Tbilisi Railway Bypass project, a new double track railway route that will bypass the central area of the city of Tbilisi and could upgrade the Tbilisi Marshalling station. Located in the eastern outskirts of Tbilisi metropolitan area, the ILC will have adequate access to the existing railway line and to the major road network, including the road links to the Georgian Black Sea ports of Poti and Batumi, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Armenia.

• provide integrated logistics services, develop a logistics hub to cover the industrial centre and catchment area of Tbilisi, and create a railway container hub for the South-Caucasus region;
• foster cooperation between the TAM land plot and the Veli Railway Container Terminal, in terms of the ILC providing tri-modal transport access, and benefit from potential synergy effects. The TAM/Veli Tbilisi land plot will be developed and upgraded to a highly productive and competitive logistics site as a part of the TRACECA network. The site has the potential to become a major railway hub for container block train operations between Turkey/Black Sea and the Caspian Sea/Central Asia, including the important link to Armenia. The different warehouses and areas for freight transport and value-added logistics services will be developed with consideration for the requirements of regional and international stakeholders.

Tbilisi is strategically placed on road and rail corridors to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia and Turkey. Therefore, Tbilisi is a major logistic hub and an important node on TRACECA. More particularly, it is situated on the railway line that links Georgia's Black Sea ports (Kulevi, Poti, Supsa and Batumi) with the Caspian Sea port of Baku.

As in other urban centres in the region, traffic congestion is a growing problem. It is one that the proposed project may ameliorate by:

• Encouraging modal shift from road to rail.
• Allowing heavy vehicles to bypass the city and deliver goods to the ILC's peripheral site, where they would be transferred to smaller vehicles for local distribution.

Socio-economic impacts: From the socio-economic point of view there are a plenty of benefits. These benefits are likely to take the following forms:

• Enhancing accessibility of urban and export markets to rural producers.
• Enhancing the viability of industries that add value to rural products, providing a more reliable market for those products as well as jobs in the vicinity of the ILC.
• Attracting foreign investment with concomitant technology transfer and access to export markets.
• Creating an environment in which SMEs can establish and flourish, buying common services from the ILC operator and exploiting niche market opportunities.
• By reducing living costs through improved transport/distribution efficiency. With good cold-chain facilities, it is likely that food costs will be disproportionately affected. Official statistics show that poor households in Tbilisi devote 58% of their total expenditure to food, compared with 44% for the non-poor, and may be the main beneficiaries.
• Strengthening Tbilisi's competitive position as a transit hub, with the possibility of adding value and providing services en route.

Poverty affects the rural population disproportionately, as in most countries. A majority of Georgia's work force is engaged in agriculture, but at a very low level of productivity. Projects are therefore required that promote agricultural productivity and open up alternative employment opportunities in other sectors. The proposed ILC would fulfil both objectives by:

• Reducing transport and logistics costs, especially for export cargoes and imported intermediate goods.
• Reducing wastage of agricultural products through improved handling, temperature guided storage, access to air cargo facilities for time-sensitive products and (potentially) establishment of on-site food processing and packaging industries.

• 2013 - Georgia, Logistics Processes and Motorways of the Sea II, LOGMOS Master Plan – Annex 9.2, Project Fact Sheet

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