Statement of the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia
Statement of the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia
09 July, 2014 00:00:00

Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia made a statement concerning the situation created today at Ruisi-Agara section of the East-West highway. According to the Ministry  the situation has calmed down, landowners that were requesting compensation, broke up a rally and road construction works have continued.

In this regard, the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia would like to emphasize several issues, which will bring more clarity to the case.

The land plots, owners of which are now requesting the compensation, were legalized to them in July and September 2012 through direct selling at 7 Tetris per square meter. The previous government did this despite the fact that mentioned land plots, which were not privately owned until then, covered the East-West highway construction area and  were not subject to privatization.

Given that the elements of corruption and infringement exist in this action, especially taking into account that property rights for the major part of lands were transferred to high officials of that time, new management of the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia transferred the case to the prosecutor’s office.

It has to be noted that the works for construction and upgrading of Ruisi-Agara section of the E-60 Tbilisi-Senaki-Leselidze highway are financed by the World Bank under agreement signed with the Government of Georgia. Based on the World Bank policy, compensations are not eligible to lands that were transferred to private ownership after the decision on construction was made. Once the road construction area is determined, no lands are subject to privatization and then acquisition again in any of the countries; moreover, such action is forbidden based on order No.104 issued by the Government of Georgia on February 18, 2009. At mentioned section census of land owners started on October 15, 2011. Accordingly, the road construction area was definitely known by that time and state agencies should not have transferred the property rights for the lands located in mentioned area.

Despite this, the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia appealed to the World Bank to consider the newly created circumstances and discuss the ways to solve a problem.

Final decision on mentioned issue will be taken only based on the World Bank’s conclusion.

Source: www.mrdi.gov.ge  

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