Tbilisi residents block railroad, highway to airport
By Eka Mekhuzla

ITAR-TASS News Agency
March 25, 2005 Friday

TBILISI, March 25 — Tbilisi residents are blocking roads to demand
the supply of electricity and natural gas.

About 200 residents of the Isani-Samgori district of Tbilisi blocked
the road to Tbilisi Airport on Friday. They said they had not had the
power supply for two days and the natural gas supply for three days.
They demand at least six or eight hours of power supply a day, the
same as it is in adjoining districts of the city.

Another group of city residents has blocked a motorway and the
railroad, which is used by commuter trains and long-distance trains
headed to Armenia. They set on fire car tires on the railroad track
and blocked the traffic.

Similar actions were held in other districts of Tbilisi. Central areas
of the Georgian capital have 18-20 hours of power supply per day,
while the majority of Georgian regions have only two or three.

Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli has asked citizens to
understand the limits on power supply.

“An accident in the Kavkasioni power line, which exacerbated the
national energy deficit, happened on reasons beyond our control,”
he said.

“The energy deficit will persist for some time after the reconstruction
of the power line, as it is planned to stop the Inguri hydropower
plant for three-month repairs,” Nogaideli said.

Limits on power supply in Georgia result from the reduced output of
Georgian hydropower plants and the malfunction of the Kavkasioni power
line, which meets 20% of Georgian electricity needs. Heavy snowfalls
damaged two sections of the Kavkasioni power line – one in Georgia
and the other in Russia’s Karachayevo-Cherkessia – on March 2. The
snow blanket is ten meters thick in those places, so the power line
has not been restored.