04:48, 3 May 2014

In Adzharia, Gurta villagers to boycott local government elections in protest against HPP construction

Mountain village. Adzharia, Khulo Municipality. Photo by Alexei Mukhranov, ©travelgeorgia.ru 2010-2014, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0

Residents of the village of Gurta in Adzharia are protesting against the construction of the Shuakhevi hydroelectric power plant (HPP) and intend to boycott local elections.

On March 8, residents of Gurta and four nearby villages blocked the road to the would-be HPP and did not let the governmental commission to the site. The protest was dispersed by the police.

The construction of the Shuakhevi HPP will flood the village, which is also located in a landslide-prone area, 170 Gurta villagers who had signed an open letter to the government assert. They promised not to let construction equipment and builders to the territory of the village, if the HPP construction was not stopped. The signatories also announced boycott to local elections.

The villagers assert that builders failed to conduct a proper study of the territory intended for building the HPP and a tunnel.

Let us note here that earlier Georgian authorities announced their plans to build by 2015 fifteen new HPPs in different regions of the country. In some places it caused mass protests of local residents.