The President of Georgia met with the First Deputy Governor of Kakheti Giorgi Sibashvili, and the Head of Kakheti Disaster Elimination Task Force Levan Bejashvili. Mikheil Saakashvili expressed interest in the ongoing disaster elimination works and ordered them to complete the works on time. The Head of State noted that the database of victims will be finalized within 10 days, and compensations should be already given out by mid September.
“The compensation distribution process should end in the first part of September. People were expecting vintage by that time, and we should at least provide them with money. This process must not be delayed endlessly. The pesticide distribution process has already ended. Additionally, the state has promised the students of public schools that they would be freed from tuition. We have already listed approximately 900 students. We will have a final list of students, who will be freed from tuition this year, by September 1st. We can do this in public schools, but the private schools should decide how to proceed for themselves. I would personally advise them to sympathize with these students maximally, and understand their situation” – noted Mikheil Saakashvili.
The Head of State also focused attention on issues related to loans. Negotiations are currently underway with the National Bank, and the rest of the banks have been warned too. We will soon have the final list of persons who have agricultural loans. As of electricity, infrastructure has almost been restored fully in this sense, and works are still going on.
Additionally, the President also raised the issue of creating new vineyards and adopting new breeds of green plants.
“In reality, we should strengthen infrastructure after overcoming the disaster we recently saw here... Telavi will become better as a city. We should do a lot of things better, pave roads, make infrastructure more secure, and strengthen houses with new technologies so that they can withstand similar disasters in the future. One more detail that caught my attention was the destruction of green plants. We should start in September, and plant a lot of green plants. They look good in Telavi. I will personally participate in this action with pleasure. We will not weaken our attention for even one minute and everyone should know that we remember non victims as well as victims. We should hold an exemplary vintage this year. We hope that the price of grapes will increase greatly compared to previous years. We should also store the crops. The wine sale indicator has increased on the world market. I think that beginning this year, we will no longer have problems selling our wine. We should not only restore the old vineyards, but work on creating new ones and assist people in creating theirs. We should adopt new technologies including in terms of winemaking as well as new grape breeds and strengthen agricultural potential. Kakheti must leave this situation more beautiful and stronger” – stated Mikheil Saakashvili.
Roofs of 3,943 houses have already been restored and roofing works continue at 154 more houses. Energy infrastructure is being completely renovated. Electric communications are already underground in Telavi, but they are still above ground in villages around. As Giorgi Sibashvili explained, this is related to counters; however a decision has already been made to install counters in villages alongside disaster elimination works. As of the green perspective, the local residents have expressed desire to participate in a large scale initiative scheduled to begin in October, which envisions making the local environment greener.