POLITICS PAGE

Opposition European Georgia Party Refuses to Enter Parliament, UNM’s Melia in Discussions with Saakashvili in Ukraine

BY KETEVAN SKHIRTLADZE

The opposition European Georgia party announced its fi nal decision on May 18, offi cially refusing to enter the Parliament of 10th convocation.

The relevant decision was announced by the Secretary General of the party, Akaki Bobokhidze, after the sitting of the Political Council. As he claimed, the Parliament is “illegitimate.”

Another big opposition force, the United National Movement, is still discussing the issue of entering the Parliament. The party Chairman Nika Melia stated a few days ago that discussions and consultations around the issue might take several days.

“The issue of the UNM’s entering Parliament is being discussed. Consultations are expected to continue. It will take several days to make a fi nal decision. I know for a fact that there are different positions in the party. The decision should be pragmatic and rational,” Melia said.

The Chairman of the United National Movement has been in Kyiv, Ukraine, this week with party members Koba Nakopia, Petre Tsiskarishvili, Eka Kherkheulidze, Kakha Okriashvili and Akaki Minashvili.

There, they met up with the third president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, who now heads the Executive Committee of Ukraine’s National Reform Council.

The representatives of the largest opposition party in Georgia are expected to discuss the current political processes in the country with the ex-president, in particular, the issue of UNM entering the Parliament of the 10th convocation.

Nika Melia noted that he has not seen Saakashvili for more than two years and they had “a lot to discuss.”

Saakashvili said he was pleased Melia had come to see him and added that Melia had "big plans." "I'm proud to be his comrade in arms. I admire his courage and the principle he has shown. I think our people can accomplish anything. It cannot be otherwise, for so many years people have been waiting for some relief and progress," he said. "In my opinion, Nika is already a winner, because they could not break him and he made the fear of prison disappear, the fear of repression and pressure that has existed for so many years. When a person sets such a standard, others are bound to follow his courage and standard. This is a turning point in Georgia's recent history, it has given new strength to all our people," Saakashvili noted. "I'm very glad that we talked about many Important issues," Melia said. "I believe that in the not too distant future, we will meet again, not only in Kyiv but also in Tbilisi, it should be so and it is impossible for it to happen otherwise. For this, it is important to develop a common strategy. We should not make the enemy happy. "When I came out of prison, I faced lots of traps; many people trying to create misunderstanding in the opposition. Rumors are circulating as if I have a tense situation with Misha, but the opposite is true. There are wiser people in the opposition and in the National Movement than certain people think, so we will not allow anyone to provoke us and destroy the foundations of the state. The most important thing is for us, the politicians, is to believe in Georgia; to believe that we can win. If we do not believe in it, how can people believe?" he said.

ENKA Representative Responds to Rioni Valley Guardians’ Criticism of Namakhvani HPP Construction

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Despite declaring a moratorium on the construction of the main element of the HPP construction, locals and environmental activists are still concerned about the continuation of preparatory infrastructural works.

On May 6, GEORGIA TODAY offered its readers an exclusive interview with Rioni Valley “Guardian” Mirza Nozadze, one of the organizers of the Rioni Valley resistance movement, who is a friend of the now-renowned Varlam Goletiani and his family, to get them acquainted with the position of the Rioni Valley guardians.

“This is the fi ght of the Georgian people, aiming to challenge the Government of Georgia and the relevant attorneys on their ignorance and negligence, on their signing of a memorandum with a private investor company for a project as complex and important as the Namakhvani HPP,” Mirza Nozadze told us.

Now, in order to also hear another side’s position and fi nd out more details about the construction, we spoke to the representative of ENKA, Elene Ghubianuri, Administrative Director of ENKA Renewables.

MIRZA NOZADZE SAID THEIR RESISTANCE STARTED WITH QUESTIONS REGARDING THE HPP’S IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT AND COUNTRY AS A WHOLE, TO WHICH THEY CLAIMED THEY COULD NOT GET ANSWERS.

From the day of winning the international tender (2017), the company launched an active communication campaign with the local population. To this end, community coordination councils were set up, whose members were represented by representatives named by the villages. Informational meetings and discussions were held in the format of these boards with the participation of the company's management, its employees, and invited experts. Information centers were also set up where anyone interested could get information on key issues, as well as raise a new issue for further discussion. The focus of the discussion was on dam safety, environmental and social impacts, and compensation policies.

The company also discussed the development prospects of the valley and the company plans for projects to improve the well-being of the locals. These include the development of family hotels, winemaking, beekeeping, agriculture and education.

At the same time, an inventory of the properties in the project area was started, a compensation scheme was established, and the locals were introduced to them on an individual level. It is noteworthy that the proposed compensation is much higher than the market price, and the fact that today almost all the necessary private property (265 families satisfi ed from 274 families) have been fully repurchased, indicates the interest of locals in the implementation of the project.

In the process of renewing the environmental permits, the Ministry of Environment organized two public hearings, following the procedures provided by law, where the company still had the opportunity to answer questions and share the position of all parties.

Consequently, the claim that the company started its business without communication with the locals is unfounded, although it did not seem to be enough for a certain segment.

Given the current situation, we have repeatedly expressed our readiness to conduct a constructive dialogue and reanswer the questions, but, unfortunately, the protest went beyond the appropriate format and it was claimed by the opponents that we are not addressing their questions.

We have repeatedly expressed our readiness to conduct a constructive dialogue and re-answer their questions, but, unfortunately, the protest went beyond the appropriate format - Elene Ghubianuri, Administrative Director of ENKA Renewables

HOW TRANSPARENT IS THE COMPANY’S CONTRACT WITH THE GOVERNMENT? NOZADZE TOLD US THAT “ON THE 80TH DAY OF THEIR STAY IN THE TENTS, THEY FORCED THE AUTHORITIES TO MAKE THE CONTRACT PUBLIC.” NOZADZE FURTHER SAID THAT, “OUR PROTEST IS BASED ON LEGITIMATE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE CONTRACT. IF GEORGIA VIOLATES ANY OF THE TERMS, WE OWE A MUCH LARGER PENALTY THAN THE COMPANY UNDER THE CONTRACT.” WHAT WOULD BE YOUR RESPONSE TO THAT?

The existing agreement is the result of quite lengthy negotiations, which comprehensively take into account the interests of both parties, as well as the risk, and are based on international best practices for such projects.

In addition to highly qualifi ed local law fi rms, the parties hired reputable international law fi rms such as White and Case and Shearman and Sterling to prepare the contract. As for the insurance of the risks envisaged in the contract, it is not new that large-scale investment projects cannot be implemented without them, nor that the International Finance Institute becomes a co-fi nancer of the project.

PROTESTERS AGAINST THE CONSTRUCTION ALSO EXPRESS CONCERN REGARDING THE ISSUE OF TRANSFER OF LANDS.

According to the rule defi ned by the legislation, a construction permit is required to obtain a legal right to the necessary land plots. Within this framework, part of the state-owned lands, on the basis of an ordinance of the Government of Georgia, in the form of purchased privatization and some of them the right to build, were transferred under strict conditions: land use is allowed only for project purposes, without the right of alienation. Here, as a condition for the transfer of lands, in addition to the fulfi llment of numerous obligations under the agreement with the government, the new 28 km of Namokhvani - Alpana - Mamison road, Namokhvani - Alpana is defi ned, meaning construction of the section and its transfer to the state free of charge.