Michael Saunders / Partner-Infrastructure
Michael Saunders heads the Infrastructure Commission of ICC-Georgia and has a 10-year working experience in Georgia and the Caucasus region with large Government contracts within the Ministry of Infrastructure.
Since 2007, Michael has been involved in the supervision of over half a billion USD in infrastructure projects, including Rail, Road, Water, and Coastal Protection projects. All projects have been completed to international standards as required by the IFI’s lending funds to the Government for such projects, as such Michael is highly familiar with all required government and IFI approvals for large infrastructure projects.
Investing in Infrastructure is a potential opportunity for the Private Sector with the Government considering road user charges such as tolling systems, which opens up opportunities for public private partnerships to assist Georgia in rapidly improving their infrastructure without taking on a huge debt burden and passing on the infrastructure costs to the users with an opportunity for investors to invest and receive back a stable return on investment with government backed contracts.
In addition to Chairing the ICC-Georgia Infrastructure Commission, Michael has a PhD in urban and transport planning and a Masters in Civil/Mechanical engineering, and manages the leading local Infrastructure Consulting company, Saunders Group which employs over 40 engineers, financial advisers and support staff placed all over Georgia. Before founding Saunders Group, Michael had worked in a variety of projects in the infrastructure and transport planning spheres over a broad geographical area covering his homeland New Zealand and stretching across North and South America and West and East Europe.