Road in Industrial Zone of Rustavi – Additional Threat to The People

If you have ever visited the industrial zone of Rustavi, you would have noticed a traffic road, that is so damaged, that gets dusty even while passing on foot, not to mention what happens in case of passing the heavy vehicles.

Would you like to know, how the road can harm peoples’ health? – Damaged road, as well as the faulty production process, represents a significant source of particulate matter pollution. Dozens of vehicles pass through this road on a daily basis, hence, each passing is the cause of dusting and, accordingly, spreading smallest solid particles into the air.

The situation on this matter worsens during windy periods.

In order to mitigate the impact on the environment, certain types of enterprises are obliged by the law to clean the tires of the vehicles before leaving the territory of the factory. However, this action is pointless if the road, on which the vehicle passes, can be a much more serious source of pollution, than the operation of the factory itself.

Our movement has brought up this topic several times in the framework of working group of “Action Plan for Improving Ambient Air Quality in Rustavi”. And the progress report of the previous reporting period (January-June 2022) was no exception.

Activity 1.3.4 of the Action Plan involves improvement of the road surface, in order to reduce the dispersion of solid particles in Rustavi. At this stage, the rate of road surface improvement is 65%, although this rate does not include the section of the road in industrial zone, that is our concern.

Within the working group, on August 19, 2022, we once again wrote to the Ministry: “the road in the industrial area is still the great source of pollution, which causes the spread of solid particles of dust even by passing a light car. We think, this road must be fixed”. This would have been a good measure to prevent the damage, since the cost of mitigation of already existing damage is much more expensive. Moreover, Tazakendi settlement is very close to this road and citizens, residing there are constantly being harmed.

The mentioned road is the property of Rustavi Municipality; Therefore, it is necessary the municipality to be actively involved in solving this problem. And, if possible, make the companies, operating in the city, involve in these processes.

The response from the Ministry to our letter was the following: “Rustavi Municipality informed us, that the central road in industrial area is paved and arranged, internal roads, directly accessing to the enterprises, some have been rehabilitated, while others are planned to be rehabilitated step by step.”

This response was surprising for us, because, when we sent a letter to Rustavi Municipality on August 10, 2022, requesting the information: “under whose control is the road in the industrial area, and in case of presence of appropriate financial resources, who is responsible for the improvement of the mentioned roads?

We mean two specific sections of the road:

– The road between the following cadastral codes: 02.07.02.910 – 02.07.03.032

– The road along the Mary Canal”

We also attached a photo to the letter to show which road we were referring to.

From the response, received on August 15, from Rustavi Municipality, it was clear, that the indicated section is the property of Rustavi Municipality and its rehabilitation is not planned at this stage.

As you can see, these two responses, from the Ministry and from the Municipality, does not match, hereby, we once again wrote to the Municipality on September 3 and requested to provide which internal roads are planned to be rehabilitated and when?

Whether the cooperation with the enterprises was considered in the rehabilitation process, so that the costs for the rehabilitation would be distributed (The owner of one of the enterprises has personally confirmed to us willingness to participate in the process).

Despite the fact, that the registration of our letter was confirmed on September 5, we have not still received the response, as of October 10, after more than a month.

According to the general Administrative Code of Georgia, a public institution is obliged to provide the public information immediately or no later than 10 days.

The informational material is prepared within the framework of the project “Defending Our Right to Clean Air in Rustavi” which is implemented with the financial support of the “European Endowment for Democracy”