An independent member of Tbilisi City Council, Aleksandre Elisashvili, on air on Rustavi2, discussed one of the on-going construction work projects and stated: "Yet another malicious event is unfolding on Pekini Street.  The Elzuro company, which was evicted from Pavlov Street, is now building a 14-storied housing block directly in front of Tbilisi City Hall. The company is going to demolish the kindergarten and build the housing block."

verified the accuracy of the statement.

LTD Elzuro was registered in the database of entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs on 8 October 2014. The owner of the company (100%) is Nona Macharashvili.

On 10 March 2015, a contract was signed between LTD Elzuro (cadastral number: 402004353) and the National Agency for State Property Management of Georgia. According to the contract (pursuant to the ordinance of the Government of Georgia issued on 5 March 2015), LTD Elzuro received a 3,461 square metre land plot at 23 Gamsakhurdia Street in exchange for a 2,393 square metre land plot located between the student housing building of Tbilisi State Medical University at 25 Kazbegi Avenue and a public school located at 27 Kazbegi Avenue. According to the conclusion of the LEPL Levan Samkharauli National Forensics Bureau, LTD Elzuro was given one month after the signature of the contract to pay the difference between the market prices of its own property and the state-owned property which was GEL 116,488.

On 20 May 2015, the Architecture Service of Tbilisi City Hall determined the conditions of usage of the LTD Elzuro-owned land plot at 23 Gamsakhurdia Street for the purpose of building a multifunctional complex thereon.

On 14 July 2015, Dali Benashvili addressed the Architecture Service of Tbilisi City Hall and requested the endorsement of a multifunctional complex on the land plot owned by LTD Elzuro and the providing of the respective construction permit. After a study of the submitted documentation, the Architecture Service of Tbilisi City Hall detected certain errors within the project. Therefore, the architectural project has hitherto not been endorsed and the construction permit was not issued.

television studio. They stated that in order to enable the construction of the large housing block, the Architecture Service of Tbilisi City Hall issued a permit to demolish the Sapovnelakindergarten located on the territory. The population is against the construction of the housing block. They addressed almost all of the official structures (President of Georgia, Architecture Service of Tbilisi City Hall, Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia and a member of Tbilisi City Council, Davit Zurabishvili). They also met with the Mayor of Tbilisi who promised that he would study the issue.

contacted Davit Zurabishvili for an interview about this issue. Mr Zurabishvili stated that he was well aware of the problems associated with LTD Elzuro. The company owned a land plot on Kazbegi Avenue and planned to build a housing block there but residents demanded the territory be restored to its status of a recreation zone. Thus, according to the decision of the Government of Georgia, LTD Elzuro was given an alternative land plot in exchange. However, there were still problems because citizens once again protested the constructionand asserted that the majority of the houses there are damaged and a new construction will pose a danger to their safety. The Architecture Service of Tbilisi City Hall has hitherto not issued the construction permit. Mr Zurabishvili added that these sorts of problems are very characteristic for Tbilisi and, unfortunately, citizen protests are mostly ignored and construction firms ultimately receive their construction permits.

also contacted a representative of LTD Elzuro who forwarded us to the company’s lawyer although we were unable to make contact via the mobile telephone number we were given.

On 9 September 2015, LTD Elzuro started to demolish the kindergarten at 23 a Kazbegi Avenue. Local citizen protests against the demolition of the kindergarten are continuing. A representative of LTD Elzuro stated that the company was given the territory as an immovable property and it does not havethe status of a kindergarten. The company asserts that it has obtained a permit to demolish the kindergarten and the planned housing complex on its territory will include a new kindergarten as well.

LTD Elzuro owned a non-agricultural land plot situated between the student housing building of Tbilisi State Medical University at 25 Kazbegi Avenue and a public school at 27 Kazbegi Avenue. After the request of the local population, the territory had its status of a recreational zone restored. According to the decision of the Government of Georgia, LTD Elzuro was given another land plot situated at 23a Gamsakhurdia Street in exchange. In May 2015, the conditions for the usage of the land plot for the purposes of construction were determined. The request to endorse the multifunctional complex project and issue the respective construction permit was submitted to the Architecture Service of Tbilisi City Hall. However, due to errors which were detected in the documentation, the project was not endorsed and a construction permit has hitherto not been issued. On 9 September 2015, LTD Elzuro started to demolish the kindergarten situated at 23a Gamsakhurdia Street (the company did obtain a permit authorising the demolition). Local citizen protests have taken place in response to the demolition of the kindergarten with the community insisting that it will not let the construction of the large housing block take place. Until now, the Architecture Service of Tbilisi City Hall has not issued a construction permit pursuant to that territory.

will continue to take interest in this issue. According to the official information obtained thus far, LTD Elzuro is not involved in any illegal construction. Therefore, Aleksandre Elisashvili’s phrase that this company was "evicted" is not correct.