In March 2015, the Tbilisi Entrepreneurship Promotion Centre was founded to encourage investor activities, support entrepreneurs in making investments and develop entrepreneurship skills. Aleksandre Margishvili, Deputy Mayor of Tbilisi, was appointed as Head of the Entrepreneurship Promotion Centre. The Centre’s budget for 2015 was GEL 1.4 million and rose to GEL 3 million for 2016 (code 04.13, page 81).
The Economic Policy City Service has been a part of the Tbilisi City Hall structure for several years already and is responsible for the elaboration of economic development policy and municipal programmes for economic development alongside ensuring their implementation. The Economic Policy City Service is also responsible for stimulating Tbilisi’s economic development, promoting investments and supporting investors. Additionally, the Centre also implements the Entrepreneurship Support Programme. Tbilisi’s budget document provides the explanation that the Entrepreneurship Support Programme’s goal is to create a fertile ground for the efficient conduct of business and entrepreneurship. The Programme also serves to advance the skills and qualification of its beneficiaries as well as provide intellectual support. Further, it aims to identify those fields deemed to be competitive and provide support for developing the necessary human resources for these particular fields.
The question of whether or not it was necessary to create another service with similar functions and duplicate responsibilities arose among the public. In spite of our efforts to learn more in this regard, we were not able to obtain an answer from Tbilisi City Hall. Tbilisi City Council’s opposition has emphasised the duplication of rights and responsibilities from the beginning and asserted that this comprised an additional and unnecessary budget expenditure which was intended to provide employment for the former Deputy Mayor of Tbilisi, Aleksandre Margishvili.
After 11 months of its foundation, Tbilisi City Hall decided to abolish the Entrepreneurship Promotion Centre. On 17 February 2016, at a Tbilisi City Hall meeting, the Mayor, Davit Narmania, stated that the decision to abolish the Entrepreneurship Promotion Centre was made in view of a better mobilisation and allocation of resources. The Centre’s responsibilities were subsequently delegated to the Economic Policy City Service. In regard to Entrepreneurship Promotion Centre employees, the Deputy Mayor of Tbilisi, Irakli Lekvinadze, stated on 17 February 2016 on air on the talk show, 20/30,that a new competition would be announced as a part of the Economic Policy City Service reorganisation process and employees would be appointed to different positions upon their successful passing through of the selection process. Aleksandre Margishvili stated in reply that he would be moving to the private sector.
The fact that the functions of the Entrepreneurship Promotion Centre and the Economic Policy City Service clearly duplicated each other was highlighted in FactCheck’s previous article about the Entrepreneurship Promotion Centre. Notwithstanding Tbilisi City Hall’s decision to abolish the Centre, it is a further fact that GEL 1.4 million was spent from the budget last year in order to keep it running. Of that GEL 1.4 million, a significant portion was spent for employee labour remuneration. As clarified by the Deputy Mayor of Tbilisi, Irakli Lekvinadze, the already allocated budget for the Entrepreneurship Promotion Centre will be transferred towards high-priority directions such as social and medical programmes. In regard to that decision, Tbilisi City Council minority member, Irakli Abesadze, stated: "This fact is a direct confirmation that GEL millions allocated from the budget for the Entrepreneurship Promotion Centre were wasted and the Centre had nothing to do with economic development projects."
