The FINANCIAL — A total amount of GEL 16 million will be spent on renovating parks and squares, planting trees and greening Tbilisi this year by the Ecology and Greenery Department of Tbilisi City Hall.
This year’s budget is slightly increased compared to last year’s when GEL 12 million was spent on projects implemented for the purpose of greening Tbilisi.
The renovation and creation of more than 150 square metres of green space, forest cultivation in the area surrounding the capital city and online mapping of Tbilisi are the activities the budget’s money was spent on in 2012, according to the Ecology and Greenery Department of Tbilisi City Hall.
“In addition, we cooperated with WWF (World Wildlife Fund), signed a three year contract and took on the responsibility of restoring 100 hectares of forest with the sponsorship of WWF,” Giorgi Korkashvili, Director of the Ecology and Greenery Department of Tbilisi City Hall, told The FINANCIAL. “We completed the rehabilitation of Mziuri in 2012. It was the most expensive project as the park covers a very large area, 40 hectares in total. The rehabilitation of Mziuri Park took GEL 3 million from the budget. The remaining work in Mziuri Park is the responsibility of a private investor, which will soon complete the works. According to the project proposal there will be a swimming pool and fitness centre in Mziuri Park. Another significant project was the renovation of the Botanical Gardens. There were elementary problems to be solved like building benches and providing the park with public conveniences. Cafés will be opened to give visitors the opportunity to enjoy spending more time in the area,” Korkashvili added.
“The rehabilitation of Vake Park will be the project of the year, the most important one of 2013. It will likely cost GEL 5 million, but we are trying to halve this. We need to insert a drainage system in Vake Park. We want to cultivate English type gardens with green meadows where visitors can gather and enjoy spending time.
The Ecology and Greenery Department will very soon start the renovation of Bukia Gardens. This garden is in deplorable conditions nowadays and really needs our attention. Georgian architects designed a very nice project for Bukia Gardens and it will be renovated according to this project. The amount that is to be spent on the Bukia Gardens renovations is GEL 1 million.
Finally, the third most important project is completing the rehabilitation of Rike Park, which will be finished by the end of 2013. It is a very attractive park for visitors because of its location. In general, Mziuri is the park most visited by Tbilisians as well as tourists. Together with Rike Park, the renovation of European Square will be completed as well.
Q. How would you assess the ecological condition of Tbilisi?
A. There is no exact information about the city’s ecological status, good or bad. That would require laboratory analyses, air stations, technical equipment and finances as well. And there are only three air stations, which is not enough to determine the ecological conditions in Tbilisi; during Soviet times there were seventeen.
The centre of Tbilisi is of course very polluted due to traffic. This is directly linked to the economic condition of the country in general. As Tbilisi is the economic and financial centre of Georgia and as it is here that there is the biggest number of job places, the capital city is automatically becoming overcrowded with people from the regions and extra cars therefore.
Aghmashenebeli Avenue is one of the most polluted areas in Tbilisi as it is situated on low land. As for the cleanest districts, I would say Varketili and the surrounding territory.
“We have signed a contract with the Covenant of Mayors together with more than 100 cities, a covenant of European cities. The project is an initiative of the European Union and aims to reduce emissions. We took on the responsibility of reducing emissions by 20 percent by the end of 2020. In this way Tbilisi will contribute to overcoming global climate change as well as improving its ecological conditions.
Work has already begun in this direction, which is reflected in all of the aforementioned projects implemented by the Ecology and Greenery Department of Tbilisi City Hall.”
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