Affected families in Kakheti region will be compensated
By Keti Arjevanidze
Tuesday, January 22
The financial compensation for affected families of the heavy rains, hailstorm and flooding that swept through the Kakheti region in 2012 was one of the main topics discussed during a recent government session on January 21. Bidzina Ivanishvili’s charitable fund Cartu has allocated GEL 95 million for five municipalities of the Kakheti region’s affected residents. Some work in Kakheti after the damage has been performed but some still remains unsolved due to financial issues.
“On average, affected households in Kakheti will receive 6,000- 8,000 GEL in compensation,” said Davit Narmania, the Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure, before the beginning of government session.
The ministry sent the list of affected residents to Cartu Bank and the process of opening their personal bank accounts has been started. “The process of opening bank accounts for 28, 500 affected families is in progress and the compensation process will start gradually,” said Narmania.
According to the minister, the damage caused by the natural disaster in Kakheti was examined in detail and there has never been an examination carried out that was as in-depth as this one.
He also said that in order to avoid the queues in banks and to manage the compensation process well, every governor of the villages is completely informed about the disaster victims.
Minister Narmania assured that every affected household who is in the questionnaire will receive the compensation. He also mentioned that the work on roofs is almost finished.
Tengiz Shergelashvili, the deputy Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure also spoke regarding the press conference on Monday.
According to Shergelashvili, all the necessary procedures for the compensation process’ proper management have been started.
The deputy minister explained that the compensation amount was determined based on a specially conducted survey of each family.
Shergelashvili also stated that at the first stage, 3, 000 beneficiaries will be compensated. On January 22, the ministry plans to transfer the list of 3, 000 beneficiaries Cartu and to the local authorities in the Kakheti municipalities as well.
The deputy minister assumed that the rest in the list will be transferred at the end of the current week.
Governor of the Kakheti region Zurab Chiaberashvili also commented on the issue. Chiaberashvili promised that the officials of the Kakheti region will control the situation in order to avoid any problems. Chiaberashvili also admitted that there were complaints from Kakheti residents about the promised financial compensation’s delivery, as according to him, Kakhetians were protesting about the delay of financial assistance.
Cartu Bank’s branches will guarantee the compensation funds’ delivery. Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure supposes that the process will last 5-6 weeks.
When the natural disaster affected Kakheti, the Georgian Dream was in the opposition preparing for October’s parliamentary elections. Then opposition leader Bidzina Ivanishvili promised to compensate for the lost crops in the case of victory in the elections. After winning the elections, the Georgian Dream leader said in October that he would use his own money to fulfill the promised compensations if the state funds were not sufficient for this purpose.
