Abastumani Observatory Will Be Rehabilitated
By Sophio Beridze
Thursday, January 4
GEL 2 549 330 will be spent on the rehabilitation of Abastumani Astrophysical Observatory. The Municipal Development Fund has announced a tender for the rehabilitation works.
The project envisages development of the tourism infrastructure on the territory of Observatory, including the cable car rehabilitation.
Abastumani Astrophysical Observatory is located in the Adigeni municipality. The Observatory was founded by professor Evgeni Kharadze on February 28, 1932. It was the first mountainous astrophysical observatory in the former Soviet Union.
The Observatory is about 240 km away from Tbilisi, at an altitude of 1 700 meters above the sea level. For astronomical observations, its unique location was attractive not only for the Soviet but Western scientists as well.
On the first floor of a three-story observatory the Visitor Center will be opened, where virtual laboratory exhibitions will be offered. The building will have cafes with wifi.
The tender was announced by the Municipal Development Fund on 14 December and the applications will be submitted till January 15, 2018. The winner company must complete the rehabilitation of Observatory in twelve months. The Rehabilitation project will be implemented by the co-financing of the World Bank (WB). For the project, Georgia will receive a loan of USD 60 million from the WB, and the state's share is 20% (USD 15 million). The Municipal Development Fund will implement the project.
The rehabilitation of the historical buildings of Abastumani settlement is carried out in accordance with the Decree No.2424 of the Government of 24 December 2014 and Decree No. 2460 of 19 November 2015 under the Regional Development 3rd Project (RDP 3).
