Wednesday, April 4, 2018

The Panorama Tbilisi project: an eco-monster

In the European Year for the Cultural Heritage in Georgia citizens protest – and are arrested – for the Panorama Tbilisi project.
The Panorama Tbilisi Project  consists in the construction of four multi-functional centers located in different historical and green zones of Georgia’s capital city, Tbilisi. The project stretches from the very heart of the city, Freedom Square, up to one of the green lungs of Tbilisi, the Sololaki mountain. It is one of the biggest ever real estate project in the country and it will lodge hotels, service apartments, offices, exhibition centers, conference halls, health and leisure centers, sport arenas, and swimming pools.

A disputable project

According to the promoters, the project is meant to boost the growing tourism industry in the country. Concerns were raised – and still persist – connected to the transparency of the process of construction permissions and public procurement, to the privatization of public goods, to the impact of the project on the cultural and natural heritage of the city, and to the plausibility of the claim that the project meets the local tourist industry needs.

Full article here: https://www.balcanicaucaso.org/eng/Areas/Georgia/The-Panorama-Tbilisi-project-a-monster-in-town-186839