Everyone wins the Old Tbilisi competition
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Thursday, October 1
Tbilisi Mayor Gigi Ugulava, Vice Mayor Mamuka Akhvlediani and the heads of several district administrations, building companies and banks attended the presentation. Akhvlediani stated that all eleven companies which had taken part in the competition had had their proposals accepted. The seven who will be receiving the necessary funds immediately are: EUBE Georgia, Kalasi, Olympic Star, Axis, Bagebi-City, Nike and Arci. The four remaining companies, who will receive their finance in ten days, are: Georgian House, Tiflis-Saburtalo, Tex Group and Academe City and Okros Kveti, who presented a joint project.
The Tbilisi municipality is planning to pay the current residents of the area which the new complex will be built on USD 700 per square metre of their homes to buy new apartments elsewhere. It will however still return a profit on this project, as 33,000 square metres of land in different Tbilisi districts will become its property. Four banks are intending to finance the project: Bank of Georgia, Cartu Bank, Bank Republic and TBC. The Tbilisi Mayor thanked the banks’ owners and said that this was the first time there had been successful collaboration between banks, companies and the Government. He added that 243 families is not a serious number, but the main thing was to start undertaking such projects and more families would be assisted by such collaborations in future. The Tbilisi budget will increase by 30 million GEL as a result of this project.
“This is a very important step for overcoming the crisis. Of course we still have much to do in this direction but the important thing is to fulfill our responsibilities properly and undertake such important projects together. Collaboration and assistance have a great importance in achieving our aims and conquering the difficulties in the country,” stated Ugulava, who said that in future there would be much demand for the newly built flats and this would provide serious encouragement for building sector development in Georgia. Reviving this sphere will create an economic advance and a partial overcoming of the crisis.
After the meeting, the representatives of the banks and companies involved confirmed Ugulava’s statement and talked about the project’s importance. Tornike Abuladze from Arci said: “Our company will take part in this very important project as our initiatives have been approved by the Tbilisi municipality, and we are really glad of this. The project will enable us to increase the company’s income and, more importantly, help several dozen families improve their living conditions.”
The municipality is planning to organise another competition, which will attract proposals to build another stage of the New Life for Old Tbilisi project, in the near future. Ugulava stated that this next stage will start in February-March 2010 and the conditions of that competition will be almost the same as for this one. The banks and companies attending the presentation showed a desire to take part in the second competition too. The number of families assisted will be increased in consequence.