NGO IDFI: fuel used by 7 Georgian governors would be enough to turn the Earth 14 times
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Wednesday, June 5
“The distance driven by each governor in the two years is on average equal to twice the circumference of Earth,” the NGO says in the document released on June 4, related to rational and efficient use of state resources.
The NGO gathered the information presented in the survey through freedom of information requests that were sent to nine regional governor administrations, requesting public information about the state vehicles and fuel expense in 2017-2018.
IDFI says that nine regional governor administrations own a total of 78 vehicles, of which 49 percent are high-performance, and 46 percent are assigned to specific official or an employee.
“All regional governors use Toyota Land Cruisers, most of which were handed to governor administrations free of charge,” IDFI says.
The study reads that 73 percent of the vehicles owned by governor administrations were not purchased with their budgets, and they were transferred free of charge from other public institutions.
“On August 21, 2015, Deputy Governor of Kvemo Kartli region appealed to Rustavi Mayor to transfer a vehicle that was purchased for GEL 71,373 on the same day from the municipal budget to the governor administration,” IDFI reports.
The NGO says that in 2017-2018, the monthly fuel limits of governor administrations varied from 700 to 1,500 liters.
“In 2017-2018, seven governors used a total of 132,208 liters of fuel. There is strong evidence to suggest that in 208 Guria governor administration exceeded its fuel consumption limit,” says the NGO.
Only the office of the Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti governor Aleksandre Motserelia responded to the reports the same day, stating that the governor “has never exceeded the 1,500-liter daily limit.”
The office states that the government spends much time visiting villages and people and needs around 600-800 liters of fuel daily.
The cost of one-liter fuel in Georgia as of today stands at about 2.40 GEL.