The President of Georgia opened the Tbilisi Public Service Hall today. Mikheil Saakashvili toured the new building and used the “Just Café” service. He expressed interest in the conditions of service, and requested the documents related to his ownership of the Kvareli house in order to find out how much time is needed for various services.
“This is the best office we have seen around Europe. This is what Georgia should be proud of because we have created a precedent for this. We are working on decreasing bureaucracy and whenever they have contact with government bodies, to make this contact more pleasant than in any place in Europe. We took two models: American and European; the two best models, and we found a golden balance between them in order to have the best variant. The alternative to the Public Service Hall was desks of the former passport office, where ladies without salaries were looking at your hands, expecting bribes. They had no other choice; they had children, grandchildren, and they were looking at every person in order to make money. This is a huge center of people’s services where 15,000 persons can be served in one day.” – stated Mikheil Saakashvili.
The President of Georgia addressed the gathered audience. As Mikheil Saakashvili noted, the Public Service Hall is a symbol of the new relationship between individuals and government; the government which exists only to serve people. The President stated that it is an absolute antithesis of the closed system of the past. The Head of State also noted that the old style of service will never return to the Georgian state bodies, and that the changes which were implemented in the police, customs, and tax services will spread to the entire government.
Mikheil Saakashvili also recalled the promises given to the population and noted that each one of them will definitely be fulfilled, and that the government will always take responsibility for its country and citizens and will always work to protect their rights.
The President also touched on the facts that have happened in the recent days and noted that the government responded to the horrible facts like a democratic government of the 21st century. According to him, the government fully dismantled the system which was unable to eliminate these kinds of crimes; however, the reorganization of the system has already begun under the new Minister, Giorgi Tugushi.
The Head of State later spoke about the changes in the government cabinet. According to him, the new Minister of Corrections and Legal Assistance, who was the most vocal criticizer of the system as well as the new Minister of Internal affairs, Ekaterine Zguladze represent the future changes in Georgia just like this new Public Service Hall building does. He later added that, the new public service hall building is a beacon of hope for each citizen of Georgia just like the new parliament building in Kutaisi.
The Tbilisi Public Service Hall which was designed by the famous Italian architect, Massimiliano Fuksas will unify state and private services. It will serve approximately 15,000 citizens per day and offer them over 300 different services. “Just drive” and “Just Café” are the most innovative services offered at the Tbilisi Public Service Hall.