"The government has not presented the projects of even a single part of the [new] motorway to the Parliament."
On 4 March 2015, at the plenary session of the Parliament of Georgia, the United National Movement MP, Paata Lezhava, stated: "I would like to address the issue of the [new] motorway. The government has not presented the projects of even a single part of the [new] motorway to the Parliament. All of the [motorway] projects that are in operation today were endorsed by the previous Parliament."
We took interest in whether or not high-speed motorway construction projects need to be endorsed by the Parliament. We addressed the Parliament of Georgia with this question. The reply we received indicated that it does not take part in the approval of motorway construction projects. In order to clarify the statement, FactCheckcontacted Mr Lezhava as well. According to the MP, the Parliament does not approve the motorway construction projects directly but, rather, ratifies the loan agreements signed to fund these projects. According to him, no such agreements have been ratified since the new government assumed office.
FactCheckattempted to clarify this issue.
On 22 March 2013, the then Prime Minister of Georgia, Bidzina Ivanishvili, issued a directive on the financial conditions of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development loan directed at funding the fourth East-West High-Speed Motorway project.
An agreement on the funding of the fourth East-West High-Speed Motorway project (Agara-Upper Osiauri part) was signed between Georgia and the World Bank on 6 June 2013. The agreement was signed by the Minister of Finance of Georgia, Nodar Khaduri, and the Regional Director of the World Bank for the South Caucasus, Henry Kerali. The World Bank allocated a USD 78 million preferential loan for the implementation of the construction project. A total of USD 38 million of this loan will come from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development whilst the remaining USD 37 million will be allocated by the World Bank’s International Development Agency (IDA).
On 9 July 2013, the Deputy Minister of Finance of Georgia, Giorgi Tabuashvili, presented this document to the members of the Budget and Finance Committee of the Parliament of Georgia for ratification. On 10 July 2013, a loan agreement between Georgia and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (for the fourth East-West High-Speed Motorway project) was ratified by the Parliament of Georgia.
The 25 November 2013 directive of the Government of Georgia allowed the Ministry of Finance of Georgia to sign the agreement on funding the East-West High-Speed Motorway project B with the European Investment Bank. The amount of the loan was USD 30 million. On 20 February 2014, the Parliament of Georgia ratified the aforementioned loan agreement.
On 30 May 2014, an agreement on the construction of the 12-km Agara-Upper Osiauri part of the motorway was signed between the Roads Department of Georgia and the Kuwaiti Copri Construction Enterprises WLL.The modernisation of the Agara-Upper Osiauri (from km 19 to km 31) part of the motorway is being implemented with World Bank funding. A tender on the construction of this part of the motorway was announced in 2013 and was won by the Kuwaiti company. The total value of the work in terms of the agreement is over GEL 105 million within a construction period of 27 months.
On 24 December 2014, the Roads Department of Georgia signed another agreement with the Chinese construction company, China Railway 23rd.The aforementioned agreement includes the construction of the fourth lot of the E60 Samtredia-Grigoleti high-speed motorway. The length of the project is 24 months whilst its value equals GEL 113 million. The European Investment Bank is the construction project’s donor. The agreement includes the construction of 9.5 km of a four-lane new direction asphalt-concrete motorway.
FactCheck wroteabout the construction work of the high-speed motorway earlier as well. However, we addressed the Roads Department of Georgia once again and requested information about the parts of the motorway which were under construction from 2013 to 2015 during the office of the new government. The table below lists these particular parts of the motorway.
Table 1:
Parts of the Motorway under Construction from 2013 to 2015
| No. | Name of Object | Date of Start | Notes |
| 1 | Modernisation project of the km 114 to km 126 Agara-Upper Osiauri part of the E60 motorway | September 2014 | |
| 2 | Construction of the Zestaponi-Kutaisi new bypass road km+000-km 15+172 part of the Zestaponi-Kutaisi-Samtredia part of the motorway in terms of the modernisation project of the E60 east-west motorway | July 2013 | |
| 3 | Construction of the km 0+000-km 11+500 (first lot) part of the Samtredia-Grigoleti motorway | May 2014 | |
| 4 | Construction of the km 42+000-km 51+570 (fourth lot) part of the Samtredia-Grigoleti motorway | 2015 | |
| 5 | Construction of km 12+400-km 31+259 (second lot) of the Kobuleti bypass road | May 2013 |
According to the information of the Roads Department of Georgia, the funding of the construction and modernisation of the Samtredia-Grigoleti road (from km 0 to km 50) and the Agara-Upper Osiauri part of the Tbilisi-Senaki-Leselidze motorway started in the period 2013 to 2015. As for the Parliament of Georgia’s endorsement of the motorway projects, the information of the Roads Department of Georgia confirms that the construction projects are not presented to the Parliament. Rather, they are endorsed by the Roads Department of Georgia after consulting appropriate independent expertise.
Conclusion
An agreement on the funding of the fourth East-West High-Speed Motorway project (Agara-Upper Osiauri part) was signed between Georgia and the World Bank on 6 June 2013. On 10 July 2013, this loan agreement was ratified by the Parliament of Georgia. On 20 February 2014, the Parliament of Georgia ratified the loan agreement with the European Investment Bank. The construction of two parts of the motorway was funded from 2013 to 2015. The construction work started on five parts of the motorway in the same years. This indicated that the construction work on the motorway has been on-going for the past two years as well.
Based upon the aforementioned facts we conclude that Paata Lezhava’s statement is a LIE.
