By Helena Bedwell

Nov. 26 (Bloomberg) -- The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development plans to invest $400 million in Georgia next year, including a project to improve a port bombed during the former Soviet republic’s August 2008 war with Russia.

The EBRD may invest $12 million to help build a new wharf at the port of Poti and $125 million in a railroad bypass around Tbilisi, Olivier Descamps, the EBRD’s business group director for Southeastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus, told reporters in the Georgian capital today.

The bank will also invest in energy and water infrastructure projects, Descamps said.

Georgia’s $12.8 billion economy suffered about $1 billion in damage when its army was routed by Russia in the war over the separatist region of South Ossetia. Georgia won pledges of $4.55 billion in international aid in the wake of the conflict, including a two- year $1 billion offer by the U.S.

Rakeen, the developer owned by the Gulf emirate of Ras al- Khaimah, will begin in a few months to build “the biggest airport in the Caucasus” at Poti, which it acquired last December, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said last month.

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