Azer News
Aug 5 2004

BTC construction halt in Georgia politically motivated

Construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline in Georgia’s
Borzhomi gorge did not resume on Monday, as initially planned.
Georgia’s Environmental Protection Ministry said following a meeting
of the Azeri-Georgian

inter-government commission that the operations will resume only
after a permission is granted by the country’s Security Council.
Azerbaijani first deputy prime minister Abid Sharifov, SOCAR
president Natig Aliyev, BP Azerbaijan president David Woodward, and
BTC Co General Director Michael Townshend are currently in Tbilisi to
hold talks on the matter.

Georgian environment experts say that a special approach in laying
pipes should be used on the 17-km-long section of the pipeline going
through the Borzhomi gorge, as this is necessary to preserve flora,
fauna and mineral springs in the area. Construction operations were
suspended for two weeks by the Georgian Environmental Protection
Ministry on July 22 to carry out a test due to environmental safety
violations, after minister Tamara Lebanidze raised the issue. A week
later, the Georgian Ministry received additional documents from
investors related to ensuring safety procedures, Lebanidze said. “The
documents we have received are under scrutiny and will be made public
later”, she said. The terms of the permit for construction
operations, which envisioned tightening security in the Borzhomi
gorge, were not observed and the operations were subsequently halted,
Lebanidze said. Earlier BTC Co General Director Michael Townshend
said that BP, the project operator, is taking all necessary steps to
ensure compliance with safety policy procedures both during
construction operations and in view of its future operation. “We are
ready to provide all kinds of assistance to the Georgian government
in monitoring safety procedures”, Townshend said. The overall length
of the pipeline going through Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey is 1,743
km. Construction of the pipeline with annual capacity of 50 million
tons is scheduled to complete late this year.

USA pledges to secure BTC
Elizabeth Jones, the Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and
Eurasia, who recently visited Tbilisi, assured Georgian President
Mikhail Saakashvili that construction of the Georgian section of the
BTC pipeline will continue and that the current route will not be
altered. Jones told journalists following the meeting that the halt
in BTC construction operations in Georgia was in focus during her
meetings with the country’s government officials. Jones regarded the
BTC as a very important project and said its construction should not
be suspended. She noted that Georgian officials maintained that
security procedures were not observed in the Borzhomi region, a
resort area, during the operations. The US official assured the
Georgian side that security procedures will be observed.

Armenian residents demand compensations
Armenian residents of the Tabaskuri village in Georgia’s Zalga region
have demanded compensations due to the laying of the BTC pipeline
through this territory. During a public action on July 27, they
announced that if the compensations are not paid, they will resort to
a protest action of a larger scale. A BP expert said on condition of
anonymity that the pipeline stretches through Tabaskuri village and
that compensations were paid to owners of affected land before the
construction operations commenced. Ethnic Armenians claim that the
construction of the BTC pipeline may allegedly lead to landslides in
the future. But even a one meter-deep trench will not cause any
landslides.

Saakashvili seeks US pressure on Russia
The BTC construction in the Borzhomi gorge was suspended on an
instruction of the Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, says the
Political Innovations and Technology Center director Mubariz
Ahmadoglu. He said that by suspending the operations Saakashvili is
trying to get the USA to step up pressure on Russia over the South
Osetia conflict. The Georgian leader is not capable of resolving the
problem on his own and is therefore seeking assistance from the USA
and other countries, Ahmadoglu said. Although the international
community supports Tbilisi by recognizing Georgia’s sovereignty, the
Georgian leader is not satisfied with this. Saakashvili would like to
see the USA put pressure on Russia to achieve a resolution of the
problem in Georgia’s favor. Ahmadoglu said that since the USA is not
willing to oppose Russia over the South Osetia problem, Saakashvili
issued an instruction to halt the construction operations. He went on
to say that although the construction was suspended for two weeks
under the pretext of environmental concerns, no environmental tests
have been carried out yet. The Azerbaijani first deputy prime
minister Abid Sharifov, SOCAR president Natig Aliyev and BP
Azerbaijan president David Woodward have recently left for Tbilisi.
At about the same time, the Georgian President left for Ajaria, and
then to Paris and therefore avoided a meeting with Azerbaijani
government officials. On August 4 he is scheduled to leave for the
USA. Saakashvili’s unexpected visit to the USA is related to the halt
in the BTC construction, Ahmadoglu added.