Giorgi Tsereteli, Chairman of the Roads Department, held a briefing at the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia regarding the reasons for the traffic stop on the Rikoti pass road and the issue of opening the road and answered the journalists’ questions.

"Since there is a great interest of the public regarding the restoration of traffic on the Rikoti section, we have decided to provide the public with complete and detailed information regarding the current situation on the said section.

As you know, on March 30, we stopped driving on the Rikoti section and diverted to the Gomi-Sachkhere-Chiathura-Zestafoni road. The mentioned circumstance was caused by extreme necessity, since as a result of snow melting, landslides developed near the road, about 200 meters away. As a result of the corresponding observation, the tendency of the growth of cracks and the development and occurrence of landslide processes in the mentioned section was revealed. Therefore, after the observation of specialists and with their recommendation, we made a decision to limit the movement of vehicles on the section of Rikoti" - noted Giorgi Tsereteli.

At this stage, the road widening works on the 149th km of Ricothi have been completed, the works of bringing the road for the relevant geological studies are underway, and geological and geophysical studies by international and local specialists are actively being carried out. By the end of the week, the initial, preliminary results will be known, after which they will discuss both the level of threats and the possibility of restoring traffic.

At the briefing, Giorgi Tsereteli spoke about the condition of the Gomi-Sachkhere-Chiathura-Zestafoni road and the reasons for the delay in movement in this direction.

"As for the 109 km section of Gomi-Sachkhere-Chiathura-Zestafoni, on which road traffic is currently diverted, at this stage only 6 km of the 109 km road are undergoing planned rehabilitation works. Specifically, rehabilitation of the damaged road surface and collapsed areas during the winter is being carried out, which hinders the movement and causes delays only on this 6 km section. "For this inconvenience, the Roads Department once again apologizes to the population, passengers, drivers of vehicles," said Giorgi Tsereteli.

According to Giorgi Tsereteli, the Roads Department is doing everything to restore the traffic on the Ricoti section as soon as possible and ensure safe movement.