Batumi residents not happy with neighbourhood with poor oil pipeline

In the dwelling settlement of Bartskhana in Batumi, the Mayoralty's technical service produces repair works on an abandoned oil pipeline and eliminates the consequences of the oil spill in the Black Sea. The residents of the dwelling settlement of Bartskhana are indignant being at neighbourhood with the faulty oil pipeline and complain about the inconveniences.

Oleg Bolkvadze, the head of the Batumi Nature Protection Service, has stated that the faulty oil pipeline is not a part of the existing Batumi oil terminal. "We can confidently state that it is a regular discharge from the old pipeline, which does not operate at present; however, periodically, old oil flows from it," Oleg Bolkvadze told the journalists.

The authorities of Adzharia have undertaken the responsibility to carry out repairs, although, according to Oleg Bolkvadze, they will be not able to repair the oil pipeline completely. This requires a complete replacement of old pipes with new ones, which involves significant expenses.

The residents of the Batumi dwelling settlement of Bartshana are not satisfied with the situation, since their neighbourhood to the faulty oil pipeline creates constant problems for them.

"We permanently feel the smell of oil. We have got so accustomed to it that we even do not feel it during the day. However, at night, especially in summer, the smell gets intensified, and we have nowhere to go away from it," says a teacher Medeya, a resident of Bartskhana.

"Sometimes, oil flows out of the tap. I cannot say that happens often or that oil flows out of the tap all the time; however, such cases occurred several times," the woman says. She notes that oil evaporations cause malaise of some residents.