Check Your Fact service, our reader, Nata Shubitidze, asked us to verify the accuracy of a statement of the leader of the Georgian Group, Jondi Baghaturia.
On 7 February 2013, the leader of the Georgian Group, Jondi Baghaturia, talked about the Olympic Village which is being constructed near Tbilisi Sea. According to Mr Baghaturia, in 2012, the previous Government signed a secret agreement which provided for the construction of a Chinese town near Tbilisi Sea and the settlement of 127,000 Chinese people there. He also said that Chinese TV channels had been transmitting a videowhich showed the Tbilisi Sea territory and described the construction work being carried out there in detail.
FactChecktook interest in the construction taking place near Tbilisi Sea and looked into the issue.
On 27 November 2010, in Belgrade, the General Assembly of the Olympic Committee decided that the Youth Olympic Games of 2015 will be hosted by Tbilisi. The 25 May 2011 statement of Tbilisi City Hall says that the appropriate infrastructure is being built or renovated. One of the important parts of infrastructure building is the construction of the Olympic Village near Tbilisi Sea. The Village will be constructed on 5 hectares and include 50 objects. According to the plan, the Olympic Village will be constructed on 420 hectares and accommodate approximately 4,000 people.
On 30 March 2012, the previous Government of Georgia signed a treaty with Hualing Group, a Chinese company, after which construction work was begun near Tbilisi Sea.
Hualing Group is a Chinese company whose main occupation, both inside and outside of China, is the fulfilment of large-scale real estate development projects. The company was founded in Xinjiang in 1988 and its properties in China include four highly-developed wholesale markets and four million square meters of commercial space. The video of the construction of an international special economic zone shows the project’s conceptual plan. The economic zone includes one axis, two wings, three areas and has the symbolic shape of a butterfly. During the Olympic Festival, the Olympic Village will be handed over to Georgia for three months free-of-charge. After the end of the Festival, any citizen of Georgia will be able to buy and use the real estate objects constructed as a part of the project.
On 22 November 2012, the then Prime Minister of Georgia, Bidzina Ivanishvili, talked about this project during a press conference. According to Mr Ivanishvili, the settlement of 126,000 Chinese citizens would not be advisable. However, he also pointed out that the agreement signed with Hualing Group did not say anything about such a plan.
On 10 January 2013, in a report prepared by Imedi TV, the Director General of Hualing Group, Van Sonfu, talked about the construction work near Tbilisi Sea. According to him, the main goal of the company is to use the strategic location of Georgia, create an international-standard shopping centre and invest USD 150 million by 2015. Mr Sonfu said that talks about 126,000 Chinese citizens were just rumours. He also pointed out that the apartments would be sold after the Youth Olympic Games and everyone would be able to buy them.
Hualing Group subsequently published another statement. “Citizens of any country will be able to buy the real estate created as a part of our project; however, this is mainly aimed for the Georgian market,” said the Director General of Hualing Group. The Public Relations Manager of the Company, Tinatin Shishinashvili, pointed out that the initial version of the project did mention 126,000 people; however, this had nothing to do with the settlement of 126,000 Chinese nationals and was the company’s calculation about the number of people employed in the project, residents of the apartments and an average number of visitors of the shopping centre per week.
After his meeting with the representatives of Hualing Group, the Minister of Economy of Georgia, Giorgi Kvirikashvili, denied the truthfulness of the rumours about 126,000 Chinese citizens; however, he did point out that the apartments would be sold by principles of the market and, therefore, the results would be impossible to predict at the given stage. “According to the general plan, the number 126,000 signifies the number of residents and employees of the project. This does not mean that 126,000 people will be settled there. This number of the residents is also being reduced. Unfortunately, I cannot say anything more at this stage,” commented the Minister.
It should be noted that on 6 June 2014, Hualing Group published a statement saying that they would start selling the apartments in September. The company has not yet made a decision about the prices but they say that the specifics of a new neighbourhood and discounts will be included. The apartments and office spaces will be available by instalment as well.
On 6 August 2014, the Prime Minster of Georgia, Irakli Gharibashvili, visited the construction site and stated: “Negotiations with the company about the purchase of eight buildings for refugees is on-going and after finalising these negotiations, the buildings will be given to them.” He added further that the company also plans to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in other projects in Georgia. According to the Head of the Public and Media Relations Division of the Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Accommodation and Refugees of Georgia, Dali Gogoladze, the negotiations with the Chinese company have not yet been concluded.
Conclusion
The Olympic Village near Tbilisi Sea is being constructed by Hualing Group, a Chinese company. The initial project did indeed mention 126,000 people; however, as the company explained on various occasions, this number signified the number of people employed as a part of the project, the number of residents of the apartments and the average number of visitors of the shopping centre. The Minister of Economy of Georgia, Giorgi Kvirikashvili, also confirmed this information. Both the previous and current Governments have denied the rumours about the settlement of 126,000 Chinese citizens many times.
Both Hualing Group and representatives of the Government of Georgia confirm that neither the project’s general plan nor the obligations of the investor say anything about settling Chinese citizens in Georgia. After the Olympic Games are finished, the newly-constructed buildings will be sold on the Georgian market. In addition, the Government is negotiating the purchase of eight buildings for refugees.
FactCheck concludes that Jondi Baghaturia’s statement: “In 2012, the previous Government signed a secret agreement which provided for the construction of a Chinese town near Tbilisi Sea and the settlement of 127,000 Chinese people there,” is a LIE.
