“Gavigudet” Attended the Presentation Regarding the Outcomes of Rustavi Air Quality Improvement Action Plan

Today, on February 23, at the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, the results of the action plan for improving the atmospheric air quality of Rustavi (2020-2022) were presented.

This meeting was attended by the civil movement “Gavigudet”, minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture – Otar Shamugia, Deputy ministers – Nino Thandilashvili, Kakha Kakabadze, Solomon Pavliashvili, chairman of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Committee of the Parliament of Georgia – Maia Bitadze, the Mayor of Rustavi – Nino Latsabidze, deputies of parliament of Georgia – Irakli Shatakishvili and Aleksandre Dalakishvili, and the heads of relevant services and departments of the Ministry. Let us remind you, that the civil movement “Gavigudet” was a member of this working group since 2020.

Today’s presentation had a form of summary, however, the main emphasis in the presented report was on the activities carried out within the framework of the action plan in the period from January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022.

Our team had some questions, comments and recommendations regarding the report and the action plan implementation process in general. However, the deliberation did not include Q&A format, unfortunately.

Nevertheless, we were still able to share our views with the Minister and the Deputy Minister regarding the problems in the city and the challenges in communication with the civil sector.

We also conveyed to the minister the dissatisfaction of our citizens about the 20 unanswered letters. In order to get answers, we had to organize a protest action. Also, we emphasized the need for more effective and actual involvement of citizens in the process of implementing action plans. We agreed to take action in this direction, however, our unfortunate experience shows that if we want to fulfill the conditions, the activity and monitoring from the citizens are of crucial importance.

However, if our conditions are satisfied, we will emphasize effective cooperation, because we are well aware that this process will be successful if only people, government and business act together and correctly.

Soon we’ll share detailed information and the results of the action plan with you.