Contract with ‘City Park’ comes under scrutiny
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Monday, August 25
Tbilisi C.T. Park LTD will have to present an amended agreement with the Tbilisi Mayor’s Office by the end of September. The company will also be obliged to reveal all its financial and registration documentation. Only after that will the Mayor’s Office decide whether to continue or suspend its contract with the company. The Tbilisi Mayor’s Office and members of the Sakrebulo claim that the agreement between the C.T. Park and the Mayor’s Office raises serious questions and points at various violations. The Mayor’s Office is not thrilled about continuing the contract with the company. However, the City Park stresses that they are not going to step back.
The C.T. Park has operated in Tbilisi almost seven years, regulating the city’s parking system. However, the service costs and rules have raised various questions about the company among the people. A contract that was signed between the previous administration of the city and the company has remained confidential. Nevertheless, the current leadership of Tbilisi stresses that the document will be available in the coming days.
A parking fee and other parking-related expenses that were determined by Sakrebulo are as such: 50 GEL- per year parking; 25 GEL for 6 months: 4 GEL per week. In the case that the vehicle is parked within the coverage area of “No Parking” or “No Stopping” zone; in the parking zone or for disabled people, or is parked hindering traffic and jeopardizing traffic safety, the vehicle is taken to a special towing lot. One should pay 60 GEL to get their vehicle back.
“We have studied all the documentation of C.T. Park and have come to the opinion that none of the points of the agreement between the company and the city administration is beneficial for Tbilisi residents, all the sections provide profit for the company only,” Narmania said, adding that the Mayor’s Office will also prepare the changes that would be introduced in the agreement. Narmania also emphasized that initiatives on changing the costs or rules concerning the parking system were urgently accepted by the previous Tbilisi administration under Gigi Ugulava, which in turn raised suspicion over illegal cooperation between the company and the former Mayor’s Office.
Members of Tbilisi Sakrebulo, Independent Deputy Aleksandre Elisashvili and Shalva Obgaidze openly accused the C.T. Park in a corrupt deal with the previous Tbilisi administration. They advised the company to suspend the contract by itself.
The Head of C.T. Park admitted that the increase in price was initiated by the former Mayor’s Office and not by the company. He stressed that the company has honesty fulfilled all the obligations.
“Everyone should realize that the contract is not signed between two individuals, it is signed between a company and the Mayor’s Office. Thus, suspending the contract is not easy… We are in Tbilisi and we are not going to leave,” the company General Manager Jenny Lahav said.
