2024-04-08
New international airport will be built in Tbilisi. We made the most significant decision on the implementation of the new mega-project. It was announced by Irakli Kobakhidze, Prime Minister of Georgia at the Executive Government Meeting today.
According to the Head of Government of Georgia, a new airport will be built in Vaziani.
"Throughput of the current airport is about 4.5 million passengers. We have a very positive trend in the area of tourism and it is expected to grow consistently in the future. We should therefore have a supportive infrastructure. We have considered two alternative options. One implied the extension of the existing airport, while the other - construction of a new one in Vaziani. Potential cost of extension would be about 900 MLN USD, while the new one will cost us 1.260 BLN USD. Extension of the existing one would allow the maximum throughput to reach 15 million passengers with no prospects of any further increase. As for the construction of the new airport, it would allow us to increase the throughput to 19 million passengers with further prospects of future increase" stated the Prime Minister of Georgia.
According to the Head of Government of Georgia, the new airport will be in full compliance with most advanced and modern standards.
"By considering a number of factors, we ultimately made a decision to construct a new airport. Blueprints and tendering will be completed next year and as a result of this endeavor Tbilisi will have a completely new, ultra-modern airport in a few years. It is the most important decision that in our understanding will have a very significant economic impact: growth will increase by 0.2 percentage points, which means that on average about 350 MLN GEL will be added to the economy of Georgia annually in the coming years. It is very important for the development and advancement of our economy. I wish to thank the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development for preparing this project proposal. It is vital to make relevant advancements now and to enrich our city and country with a new, ultra-modern airport" added the Prime Minister of Georgia.
The Head of Government of Georgia also instructed the Ministry of Economy to ensure additional direct flights and fixed, low airfare to allow the citizens of the country to attend football matches in Germany. Additional direct flights will operate to Dusseldorf and Hamburg. In the opinion of Irakli Kobakhidze, all these are important for the fans as well as for the success of the national football team.
"National Football Team of Georgia will be playing at the European Championship from June 18 and demand on air flights is already huge. Air carriers used the momentum as the economy is driven by the supply and demand principle. Thus, airfare in some instances have increased. I wish to urge the Ministry of Economy to start work on scheduling additional direct flights towards Dusseldorf and Hamburg. It is important to make sure that flight tickets are offered to our fellow citizens at fixed, low prices. It is vital for the fans as well as for the success of the National Football Team. The more Georgian fans attend the games at the stadium, the better for the motivation of the national team. It is important for us to ensure a great presence of Georgian fans in high numbers at the stadiums in Germany. I am confident that the National Football Team is capable of advancing from the group and we should contribute to this goal with whatever we can. Thus, we will be doing our best to make sure that our fellow citizens find it easy to get to Germany at most affordable prices" noted the Prime Minister of Georgia.
The Head of Government of Georgia also spoke about another decision made at the Economic Council, which is related to the optimal use of renewable energy resources.
In the opinion of the Prime Minister of Georgia, the proposed approach will be rather profitable for the energy sector and will lead to the increased competitiveness of implemented projects.
"In line with a decision made by the Government of Georgia last year, projects in the total capacity of 800 megawatts will be implemented in the country. Specific median price is already set for each category, according to which the energy projects will be carried out. It will allow the Government of Georgia to identify more renewable energy and to offer project implementation with a greater total established capacity to the energy sector players with a fixed tariff to be defined as a result of an auction in a competitive setting. This approach will be very profitable for the energy sector and will lead to the increased competitiveness of the implemented projects. The Ministry of Economy has already launched work for the development of a legal framework towards this end. I wish to thank the Ministry of Economy for preparing this project proposal" added the Prime Minister of Georgia.
In addition, the Government of Georgia has also decided to fully write-off the tax arrears originating and acknowledged before 1st January 2021 to all individuals, including the sole traders. Penalties and interest accrued on such tax arrears will also be written-off.
As Irakli Kobakhidze noted, 145 000 individuals will have in total 590 MLN GEL written off after passing the Draft Law and their tax arrears will thus be nulled.
"We took a pivotal decision about a tax amnesty of individuals at the recent Economic Council Meeting. It is related to the write-off of tax arrears accrued by individual taxpayers. I wish to thank the Ministry and Minister of Finance for preparing this project proposal. There is a quite large number of individuals, who happen to have overdue tax liabilities and are thus deprived of the opportunity to perform economic activities. Therefore, we decided to write-off their tax arrears and namely every individual taxpayer, including the sole traders, will have their liabilities originated and acknowledged before 1st January 2021 written-off together with the accrued penalties and sanctions. As soon as we get the Draft Law passed, 145 000 individuals will have in total 590 MLN GEL written-off from their tax accounts. Thus, 145 000 fellow citizens will gain the opportunity to actively trade, which will ultimately benefit the economy of the country" added the Prime Minister of Georgia.
The Head of Government of Georgia also commented on the re-submission of the Draft Law on the Transparency of Foreign Influence, thereby noting that it is fully sound text envisaging solely obliging NGOs and respective media outlets to lodge their annual financial reports.
"There is naturally no alternative to transparency in a democratic society and democratic societal order. If you watch debates, you must have noticed that nobody can argument why transparency is bad. We heard confessional testimony from a representative of an NGO yesterday, claiming that they should not dwell into the substance as it is the competence of the authorities. That is our opponents' domain is lack of substance, while authorities are responsible for substance. We could not dream of a better confessional testimony, of course. It is indeed so, as substance is sound and the Draft Law is entirely thought through. The only thing envisaged in the referred Draft Law is annual reporting on financial performance of NGOs and respective media outlets. They are claiming that transparency is the Russian mindset, while lack of it - European. Last year they managed to deceive a significant part of the society jeopardizing the values. Nevertheless, I am confident that they will no longer be able to do so" added the Prime Minister of Georgia.
The Head of Government of Georgia commented on the censorship in social media - namely in Facebook and noted that opposition-party-affiliated so-called NGOs - Factcheck and Myth Detector - are engaged in the censorship.
"If we name them - Sergi Kapanadze and Tamar Kintsurashvili - they are known to all. They are people, who used to be directly affiliated with the former authorities and were themselves engaged in censoring the media narrative. They no longer have an opportunity to do so in the same scale and magnitude, though wherever they do - they censor. It became clear during these days that they do it in social media. It is noteworthy that this censorship of our opponents was followed with a huge positive fuss. It evidences their style and values, i.e. lack of transparency and censorship is Europe for these people. That is how they present the topic. Nevertheless, we know very well what the contradicting statements are. Lack of transparency and censorship are absolutely unacceptable to us, as we believe that democracies cherish transparency and freedom of speech as values that should be decisive. Therefore, we will be adhering to each of these principles and both values - transparency and freedom of speech" noted the Prime Minister of Georgia.
In the opinion of Irakli Kobakhidze, performance of NGOs essentially lacks transparency and society has no information on who is financed for doing what.
"Misleading information is spread as if the Government and public institutions even currently have access to information on the funding of NGOs. This is false! We extracted information about 7 NGOs. They are the strongest, rather than rich in terms of their resources, as they stand out with their extreme rhetoric. It turns out that only about 18% of them have been reporting about their funding and expenditures since 2012, Namely, they were indicating without any further detail that 85 400 000 GEL has been raised in terms of funding. This information indicates that at least this much has also been spent by these NGOs. Nevertheless, we have no information about the purpose of this funding, nor about their sources. Out of this amount, detailed information is available only about 18% of spending, i.e. 15 400 000 GEL. It can be easily said that at least 70 out of 85 million is spent without submitting any detailed information - constituting a lack of transparency. It turns out that neither the Government of Georgia has any information about it. I am saying nothing about this data being confided to tax authorities only. That is, I cannot even specify NGOs. Thus, society has access to no information about all these. Government agencies are only aware of as much as only 18% of this information" noted the Prime Minister of Georgia.
According to the Head of Government of Georgia, it is also noteworthy that the bulk of their expenses is not reported to the Ministry of Finance at all.
"Data does not include such items as their business trips, a big portion of their office rental fees, procurements carried out without an electronic waybill, which are rather substantial. Thus, it may be easily said that 82% if not 90% of their expenses lack transparency whatsoever. Society is practically having no access to this data, as it is not transparently reported. Even the Government has absolutely no access to this information about who was funding to do what. There is one NGO, which stands out with its financial position, but has only declared 0.4% of its data. There are others, who stand out with their extreme rhetoric, but have reported nothing about what has been raised from where. It is a general picture about the matter. It evidences that NGOs essentially lack transparency and society has no information about who is financed to do what. Misleading information is disseminated to claim that these funds are absolutely transparent, but facts indicate that no transparency is ensured. It is important for the society to have full information on all of these, including the sources and purpose of funding granted to NGOs, respective media outlets; it is utterly important for the newly-initiated Draft Law to be passed therefore" concluded Irakli Kobakhidze, Prime Minister of Georgia.
Press Service of the Government Administration