Giorgi Ermakov (left), Bagrat Manvelidze, Tengiz Petridze, Archil Vanadze and Egarslan Lomadze.
Seven high-ranking former and current officials in Adjara, an autonomous republic in western Georgia, have been arrested on corruption charges. The former mayor of Batumi and several deputy ministers are suspected of embezzling ₾1.3 million ($460,000) intended to be spent on building apartments for homeless people. [Read more…]
Omar Makharadze (IPN)
A 19-year-old student at Batumi’s Shota Rustaveli State University has accused her lecturer, a member of the City Council, of sexual harassment. Omar Makharadze, who taught Municipal Law, has since been fired from the university and has left the ruling Georgian Dream Party faction on the council. [Read more…]
Natia Kapanadze (Adjara TV)
Natia Kapanadze has been dismissed from her position as director of Adjara TV, a public broadcaster in the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, after four out of five members of the channel’s Advisory Board passed a motion of no confidence against her. Kapanadze has pledged to appeal the board’s decision in court.
Friday prayer at Batumi's Orta mosque. Worshipers pray in the street outside the mosque. (Mari Nikuradze/OC Media)
A court in the city of Batumi, on Georgia’s Black Sea coast, has begun considering a lawsuit brought by a group of Muslims against the city authorities over their refusal to grant a construction permit for a mosque. [Read more…]
Մայթին տեղադրված պաստառը պատկերում է սպասվող բազմաբնակարան շենքի ապագա տեսքն ըստ դիզայների. (Իան ՄաքՆաութ Դեյվիս/ OC Media)
Սկսած 2008-ից Սև ծովի վրացական ափին գտնվող Բաթումի նավահանգստային քաղաքը դիմավորել է բազմաթիվ այցելուների, որոնք այստեղ են գալիս տուրիզմի, առևտրի, ինչպես նաև ազարտային խաղերի համար։ Այցելուների թվի աճի կտրուկ ավելացմանը զուգընթցած այստեղ շինարարական «բում» սկսվեց, որի վերջը դեռևս չի երևում։ [Read more…]
Protest in Batumi on 17 February. (Society Batomi)
Several dozen activists protested in the Georgian Black Sea resort and port city of Batumi on Sunday against what they said were uncontrolled construction projects in the city. [Read more…]
A banner on the pavement displays an artist’s interpretation of a forthcoming block of flats. (Ian McNaught Davis/ OC Media)
Since 2008, the port city of Batumi on Georgia’s Black Sea coast has attracted visitors with the bright lights of tourism, trade, and gambling. Soaring tourism statistics in the popular casino town has brought with it a construction boom — one that seemingly has no end in sight. [Read more…]
Muslims of Orta Mosque pray outside the mosque in Batumi (Mari Nikuradze/ OC Media)
A controversy over the construction of a second mosque in Batumi has resurfaced after the new head of Adjara, Tornike Rizhvadze, promised it would go ahead. Batumi’s Muslims have long complained that the city’s only current mosque is too small, but Rizhvadze faced criticism for his decision from a number of ultra-conservative groups including the March of Georgians. [Read more…]
Muslims of Orta Mosque pray outside the mosque in Batumi (Mari Nikuradze/ OC Media)
An initiative group of Georgian Muslims in Batumi has rejected an offer from Mayor Lasha Komakhidze for a building permit for a second mosque in the city. Komakhidze said in a meeting on 3 April that if land bought by the group for the mosque was transferred to the state sponsored Administration of All Muslims of Georgia, and if they withdrew a court appeal over previous building permit rejections, a permit would be issued.
Batumi (Leo Keler)
‘The hotel is built in avant-garde-minimalist style. It’s energy-efficient and has a minimal impact on the environment’, the city guide states of the Leo Grand, the hotel struck by a deadly fire on 24 November. Given that 12 people were killed and 21 injured in the fire, ‘minimalist designs’ could perhaps also refer to the minimally regulated building standards which are causing the shoddy development of our cities. [Read more…]
