Tornike Rizhvadze: “Rugby stadiums are set to be constructed in Chakvi and Batumi.”
Verdict: FactCheck concludes that the pledge was PARTIALLY KEPT as of 24 December 2024.
Tornike Rizhvadze, Chairman of the Government of the Autonomous Republic of Ajara, announced plans to construct rugby stadiums in Ajara, specifically in Batumi and Chakvi, in September 2021. However, construction in Batumi has yet to start, as of now.
Analysis
“An unprecedented project to develop the rugby infrastructure in Georgia starts in Ajara. The construction of rugby stadiums will be carried out in the town of Chakvi, the village of Khutsubani in the Kobuleti municipality, the village of Furtio in the Shuakhevi municipality, Batumi (Benze settlement and Gonio), Keda and Kobuleti centres,” – reads a statement published on the Facebook page of Tornike Rizhvadze, Chairman of the Government of the Autonomous Republic of Ajara, on 15 September 2021. FactCheck investigated the progress of rugby stadium construction in Batumi and Chakvi three years after the aforementioned pledge was made, examining the documentation available on the State Procurement Agency’s website. Notably, the construction of the rugby stadium in Batumi has not even started whilst the deadline for the stadium in Chakvi has been extended by ten months.
Ajara Project Management Company LLC (owned by the Autonomous Region of Ajara) signed an agreement with the partnership Injarkitekt on 18 August 2021 to prepare construction project documentation and cost accounting for an artificial turf rugby field located on a 15,058 sq.m. non-agricultural land plot (land registry number 20.48.01.137) in the town of Chakvi in the Kobuleti municipality. The contract outlined three stages of implementation. The first stage included territory studies, topographic, engineering and geological surveys, as well as the preparation of a project for construction land use conditions, scheduled to be finished within two months. The second stage focused on preparing the construction project and cost accounting documentation. The third stage tasked the supplier with supervising the construction process.
Despite Injarkitekt being responsible for thoroughly studying the conditions and preparing the project and cost accounting documentation, certain modifications to the project became necessary during construction. Particularly, Ajara Project Management Company issued a tender for the construction of the rugby stadium in May 2022. The tender resulting in a contract worth GEL 4,310,553 being awarded to the sole participant, Global Standard Builder LLC, in September of the same year. The construction was set to be completed within 15 months of the contract signing, by the end of 2023. However, the terms of the contract were first amended in September 2023 when both parties agreed to extend the deadline by five months. Whilst this adjustment was reportedly based on correspondence from the partnership Injarkitekt, the letter has not been uploaded to the State Procurement Agency’s website. A second amendment was made on 24 May of this year. This time, the agreement is reported to be based on correspondence and a report involving Global Standard Builder LLC, the Georgian Rugby Union, Levan Samkharauli National Forensics Bureau, Ajara Project Management Company LLC, the project author, the partnership Injarkitekt and the control implementation group. Whilst these letters have not been uploaded to the Agency’s website either, it is evident that the changes impacted the project, as confirmed by project documentation. As a result, the project completion date was extended by an additional five months, bringing the total to 25 months. Considering that the contract was signed in September 2022, the construction is now expected to be completed based on the latest adjustments. However, the final acceptance and delivery act has not yet been signed as of now. The buyer has paid the supplier 40% of the total contract value, constituting GEL 1,715,155. Notably, the term of the unconditional bank guarantee to ensure the fulfilment of the contract was last extended in November 2024, now covering the period up to 10 June 2025 rather than the original date of 6 December 2024.
The second pledge focused on the construction of the rugby stadium in Batumi. The buyer was the NNLE Municipal Infrastructure and Improvement Division, an organisation established by the Batumi Municipality City Council. The organisation repeatedly announced a tender for the rehabilitation of the existing rugby stadium in Batumi and the construction of two new stadiums (with supporting infrastructure) with an estimated cost of GEL 21,157,100. However, the contract was never signed. The department took over the rehabilitation and construction project from GeorgianHouse and paid GEL 490,000 in December 2023. The tender for the rehabilitation of the existing stadium and the construction of two new ones was initially announced on 4 April of this year. However, the tender commission gathered and decided to terminate the process a few days later. The minutes of the meeting state that the decision was made after a review which revealed certain shortcomings in the tender documentation that required adjustments. The department issued the procurement for the second time in July but no bids were received resulting in the tender being cancelled again.
Thus, the construction of the rugby stadium in Chakvi has not been completed and the construction of three stadiums in Batumi (one for rehabilitation and two new ones) has yet to begin as of 24 December 2024. The department has not announced a new tender as of now. However, the Batumi Municipality budget for 2025 allocated GEL 2,400,000 for the construction of one stadium, rather than the GEL 4,974,600 originally planned in the 2024 budget. Additional information reveals that the rehabilitation of the rugby stadium in Batumi (rehabilitation of the existing stadium along with the construction of two new stadiums and supporting infrastructure) is part of a multi-year project and the total budget for the works from 2024 to 2027 is estimated at GEL 26,222,113.
Considering all the documents investigated, FactCheck concludes that Tornike Rizhvadze’s pledge was PARTIALLY KEPT.
