Tbilisi Mayoral candidate vows to abolish City Park contract as his first decision

An independent candidate for Tbilisi Mayor, Aleko Elisashvili, claims that his very first decision after his election would be to abolish the contract with Tbilisi City Park, a company regulating parking issues in the capital city.

"In the event of my victory, the first thing I will sign will be an order on sending the City Park Company away from Tbilisi. After that an international tender will be announced, which will have three conditions – a mandatory fine to be paid to City Park so that the population will not have to pay it, building parking infrastructure and the proper arrangement of a parking system," said Elisashvili.

He promised he would present a detailed project on parking in the near future.

City Park has operated in Tbilisi for several years, regulating Tbilisi’s parking system.

The contract between the City Park company and the Mayor’s Office was signed under the previous United National Movement government in 2007, and the company received exclusive rights to manage the parking services in Tbilisi until 2022.

However, the service costs and rules have raised various questions about the company amongst people who disapprove of City Park’s work.

The Georgian Dream government also stated they were unsatisfied with the work of City Park and has stressed many times that the agreement is unprofitable for the city, but they cannot cancel the contract, because according to the international auditing company Ernst & Young, the cancellation of the agreement will cost the Mayor’s office 25 million GEL in expenses.

In his previous statements, Elisashvili claimed there could be some deal between City Park and the Georgian Dream administration, which is why the issue of abolishing the contract was ignored.

It is very obvious that the parking system is a big problem in Tbilisi.

Settling the problem requires good administration and healthy cooperation between the city leadership and a contractor company.

Making populist statements has become very common in the pre-election period.

Elisashvili is in with a chance to take the post. It is interesting whether he will be able or not to fulfill all his promises over construction in the city, the excessive cutting down of trees, the City Park problem and many others issues if he really wins the election.