Tbilisoba 2019 to be held on October 5-6

By Natalia Kochiashvili

Thursday, September 26

Kaladze: “Together with the population, a decision was made to complete the rehabilitation project on Chavchavadze Ave. this year.” The road construction on Chavchavadze Ave. from the Pixel building to Arakishvili Str., will be completed by October 15.

Tbilisi City Hall Infrastructure Development Service has completed a capital overhaul of Budapest-Kandelaki streets in Saburtalo district.

The zone-hour parking system will operate on Orbeliani Square from October 1, 200 parking spaces will be affected.

Construction waste disposal is still a problem, - Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze said at a meeting of the government of the capital, where he talked about the work of municipal inspection and inspection of waste disposal. Kaladze proposes to make legislative changes and increase the penalties in this regard. According to him, despite the hard work of Municipal Inspectorate and indicated special locations that all builders know, they still dump construction waste at any space they see empty. Last year, as mayor reported, number of changes were made: tightening the penalties, increasing the number of penalties and so on.

As Kaladze reported, more than 1000 protocols were written in this direction since January and nearly 19 million GEL comes from fines.

Mayor also addressed the issue of noise control by the municipal inspection: “Citizens' complaints in this regard are intensifying, with about 250 protocols drawn up per year. Hotline alerts are especially high during the summer,” Kaladze said. He thinks that they will manage to regulate this over time.

The mayor of the capital gave the last warning to the two contractor companies that are carrying out infrastructure projects in Tbilisi and have violations in terms of works.

According to him, the first problem is observed during the ongoing works on the streets of Vekua-Khizanishvili in Gldani district. Kaladze also touched upon the second problematic issue, noting that a similar situation is in Nadzaladevi Veterans' Culture and Recreation Park (Kikvidze). Mayor instructed the deputies to start timely communication and give final warnings to both companies.

The tender announced by the Municipal Fund for the development of the master plan for sustainable urban mobility and the transport in Tbilisi was won by the world's leading Danish company "Ramboll ", which will work on the document with the involvement of relevant services of the City Hall. The tender was held with the financial support of the Asian Development Bank. The general plan of transport will be for 15 years.

According to Kaladze, this will be a timely document that details all aspects of transport development - public and private transport, distribution of cars and bicycles, as well as pedestrians. According to Kakha Kaladze, based on the document it will be possible to develop Tbilisi transport infrastructure according to the standards and modern requirements.

The Tbilisi mayor, however, said the document would help unload traffic jams, which is a major problem for the capital. According to the mayor, the French company Systra also operates in the transport sector. He said it will take about 11 months to develop the document.

Tbilisi City Hall also plans to install smart traffic lights. “In all developed cities, there are smart traffic lights - they determine if a block is in one section of the city and work in a way that prevents traffic jams.” – explained Kaladze.

He said the development of a strategic transport, the arrangement of traffic lights and the creation of a new interconnected system to tackle the problem of traffic jams, redistribute traffic and sort it out without causing problems is very important.

According to the decision of the government of the capital, 11 families will be given living spaces, which have been living for many years, for a symbolic price of one lari - these families could not legalize the spaces for years.

“We started the project of legalization of apartments a long time ago. We have been fortunate enough to have many families and are happy for these families. Today, 11 families will receive living spaces for a symbolic price - one lari. These people have lived in these areas for years and they could not legalize them,” - Kaladze commented.

Mayor said the project of legalizing apartments will continue in the future, and district administrations are actively involved in the process.

Another news regarding the housing problems was mentioned at the meeting - the winner company of the express of the interest on the land near the 12th kilometer of Agmashenebeli will satisfy 65 families affected by cooperative housing after the construction of a house in the area.

Kaladze also announced that this year the celebration of Tbilisoba will be held on October 5-6. “We have several locations, such as Rike, Lefkhtakhevi, Metekhi Bridge and Orbeliani Square. Concerts and attractions for children will be included. Culinary, candy and flower festivals, street costume marches and sports activities. We will have Orbeliani open market, twin cities pavilions, musical performances, Tbilisi Big Band concert, and other interesting events,” – said Mayor.

According to him, an open-air museum will be set up in Lefkvtakhevi, where videos of Georgian writers and public figures, famous paintings, etc. will be presented on the rock. An exhibition of rare cars will be held on the Metekhi Bridge. There also will be a gala concert “I Am Tbilisi” held. On October 6, at 20:00, "Mare" - acrobatic air show with rock music will be presented as part of the Tbilisi International Theater Festival, founded by the City Hall. Mayor of the capital invited residents of Tbilisi and whole Georgia with their children and grandchildren to spend exciting days together. Kaladze noted, the complete program will be presented in two days, full of novelties.