Residents of Tbilisi report obstacles in fulfillment of the program of resettling from houses under the threat of collapse

Mayor’s office of Tbilisi declarers resettlement of citizens from houses in an emergency state going within the framework of a target project “New Life to Old Tbilisi” one of the priorities in its activities. 450 families have been resettled and 300 thousand square meters of dwellings built within the framework of the program, however residents of Tbilisi state that not all of them have access to the program.

“Tbilisi is one of the oldest cities, therefore there are a great many old buildings most of which fall on its center. It is very difficult to specify the total number of houses in an emergency state. Sometimes the tenants appeal to district administrations considering their houses emergency ones but technical expertise decides that a house is not under a threat, only part of it needs renovation”, Bachana Dolidze, Press Speaker of Mayor’s office, said to the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.

According to Dolidze, Mayor’s Office worked out the program “New Life to Old Tbilisi” in which the municipal authorities appear as a guarantor between construction companies and banks. During the period of world economic crisis all the building sites in Tbilisi were frozen while the program allows the companies to raise credits on a security of the municipal authorities. At present Mayor’s office decided to purchase new buildings at a price of 400 dollars per one square meter.

“The program “New Life to Old Tbilisi” is successful, already 450 families have been resettled and 300 thousand square meters of dwellings built within its framework. Joining the program the residents have a free choice of a construction company to make a contract with. Then they wait until the new house is put in commission after which they resettle”, Bachana Dolidze said.

However, not all the tenants of emergency houses have been able to become participants of the program “New Life to Old Tbilisi”. In particular, Ekaterina Zhiltsova’s family still lives in a partially destroyed house but no construction company has yet displayed interest to the small land parcel where the house is located. A family with a blind person and two preschool-age children huddles in one small room because the rest ones are unfit for habitation.

Iya, another resident of Tbilisi, who also lives in an emergency house located in the center of Tbilisi told us that her family had not yet taken a decision of participation in the program only for the reason that her family had no money for partial payment for renovation of the house.