SAAKASHVILI: NEW ROADS TO PUT AN END TO JAVAKHETI’S ISOLATION

Civil Georgia, Georgia
April 19 2006

President Saakashvili said on April 19 that a total of “GEL 400
million [USD 219 million] is planned to be spent over the course
of the next few years” on rehabilitating and constructing roads in
Samtskhe-Javakheti, which will “put an end to the isolation of this
region,” which is in southern Georgia.

Saakashvili was speaking in Akhalkalaki, a predominantly
ethnic Armenian populated town in the Samtskhe-Javakheti
region, at a groundbreaking ceremony of the construction of the
Akhalkalaki-Akhaltsikhe road, which is planned for completion by
next year.

“Later this autumn we will launch the construction of another new
highway linking Akhalkalaki with Tbilisi; GEL 300 million will be
spent on the construction of this road,” Saakashvili said.

“[New roads] mean that Javakheti’s geographical isolation from the
rest of Georgia will end once and for all; this means that local
peasants [sic]will be able to freely export their products from here;
this means that more businesses will come here; this means that more
transit will take place here… Roads and development – these are
what Javakheti needs now,”

The rehabilitation of roads in this region is also envisaged by the
U.S. funded USD 295.3 million aid program in frames of the Millennium
Challenge Account. A major part of the funding – USD 102 million –
will be spent towards rehabilitating some 245 kilometers of the main
road traversing the Samtskhe-Javakheti region.