Davit Narmania, Tbilisi mayoral candidate from the "Georgian Dream" coalition, stated the following during the debates with other mayoral candidates held on 29 May 2014 on TV 3: "It is important that we establish order in terms of city development and elaborate a construction plan for the capital city. There has only been one plan and a few changes have been made to it. We need to get a valid document as a general plan for the construction of the city."

FactCheck

took interest in the statement of the mayoral candidate and verified its accuracy.

Tbilisi City Council made a decision about the approval of a general plan for the capital city’s prospective development on 5 June 2009. Prior to that, the general development plan for Tbilisi was created in 1971 with no new documents being elaborated since then.

The new general plan included several important changes in Tbilisi. Among them was the creation of a new transport in order to ensure a continuous flow of vehicular traffic on different roadways. According to Tbilisi City Council, the Architectural Service has been working with developers and representatives of different international organizations on a general plan for land use. The Regulation Commission for the Use and Development Tbilisi areas also discussed the document in its development process and presented it to the City Council for approval. City Council approved the general plan after a month-long public discussion and a working-out of its shortcomings.

The general plan for the development of Tbilisi includes the following issues related to the capital city: residential zone, public-business zone, industrial zone, socio-economic development, protection and development of landscape-ecological environment, historical-cultural heritage, transport communications, engineering infrastructure, water supply draining and sewerage, drainage measures, electricity, communications, gasification and others.

“We will have a guidebook for any kind of urban, construction and planning decision-making so that excessive subjectivism and corruption is eliminated”, stated former Mayor of Tbilisi, Gigi Ugulava, while assessing the document.

Since 5 June 2009, 42 documents can be found in the development plan of the capital city on the website of the Georgian Legislative Gazette.

Of these documents, 12 have been changed since July 2013 after the ruling majority and the chairman of the City Council were changed.

Davit Narmania, Tbilisi mayoral candidate from the "Georgian Dream" coalition, talked about his vision on the general plan in his pre-election programme. According to the programme, the current general plan should be updated qualitatively to make it more viable and relevant to modern approaches. The programme includes new regulations for issues like green public spaces, the obligation for planting as a part of the issuing of construction permits, the obligation for the construction of a relevant number of parking garages as a part of construction, issues related to Tbilisi’s urban historical-cultural heritage and others.

Conclusion

Tbilisi City Council made a decision about the approval of a general plan for the capital city’s prospective development on 5 June 2009. Prior to that, the general development plan of Tbilisi was developed in 1971 and has not changed since then. According to the City Council of Tbilisi, this abovementioned plan was adopted after two years of work. Changes to the general plan were made periodically.

Since 5 June 2009, 42 documents can be found in the development plan of the capital city on the website of the Georgian Legislative Gazette.

Of these documents, 12 have been changed since the ruling majority and the chairman of the City Council were changed. In the case of his winning the elections, Davit Narmania stated that "an effective document should be adopted." It is, however, difficult to say whether or not this will be an absolutely new general plan or if changes will be made to the current plan adopted in 2009.

Accordingly, FactCheck concludes that Davit Narmania’s statement, "It is important that we establish order in terms of city development and elaborate a construction plan for the capital city. There has only been one plan and only a few changes have been made to it. We should adopt an effective document as a general plan for the development of the city," is HALF TRUE.