Most Units Opened by Saakashvili Were Constructed or Reconstructed By Bidzina Ivanishvili

Tazo Kupreishvili, netgazeti.ge

Most units, which were opened by leaders of the government of Georgia, were either constructed or reconstructed with the financial support of Bidzina Ivanishvili. President Saakashvili opened one of similar projects in Motsameta village on October 15.

“Foundation for the Protection and Outlive of Historical Monuments of Georgia” (Ivanishvili’s property) paid 30 325 GEL for the restoration of St. Davit and Konstantine Church in Motsameta.

“King Bagrat IIIconstructed this temple after two Georgian heroes – Davit and Konstantine [Mkheidzes] who died in the battle against that-time Putin – Marwan bin Muhammad (called “the Deaf” by the Georgians); later King Bagrat III constructed this temple to memorize those heroes; last century communists destroyed and insulted the church; they insulted the holly parts of the saints, degraded our historical memory and two years ago we decided to reconstruct the temple. You know that hundreds churches were reconstructed in Georgia but this church has outstanding beauty. The restoration activities lasted two years and finally we are here to celebrate this beautiful day in the renovated temple,” President Saakashvili made the speech during the opening ceremony of the St. Konstantine and Davit Monasteryopening ceremony of the  St. Konstantine and Davit Monastery on October 15, 2011.

 In October of 2009 the President of Georgia opened another project funded by Ivanishvili’s charity foundation. Patriarch of Georgia and the President opened the renovated Gelati Monastery together. The national TV-Channels reported that the reconstruction project was implemented with the initiative of the Agency for Cultural Heritage. However, in 2009, Ivanishvili’s foundation allocated more than 200 000 GEL at the initial stage of the project implementation.

Besides restoration of temples of cultural heritage, Businessman Bidzina Ivanishvili spent tens million GEL on the re/construction of various entertainment centers in Georgia. One of similar units is Batumi Dolphin Mall.

“Finally this day has come; I am happy the Dolphin Mall has been opened; it is great,” President Mikheil Saakashvili opened the Dolphin Mall in Batumi on May 6, 2011; Bidzina Ivanishvili had spent 4 525 000 GEL on its construction.

On the seventh anniversary of Adjara revolution President Saakashvili opened the Dolphin Mall together with his family members. Besides that, the government opened several dozen units for the last few years but nobody mentioned who was the main financer of those projects. Today, we already know that businessman Bidzina Ivanishvili had funded plenty of projects in Georgia.

Like Dolphin Mall, the government largely appreciated the opening of another unit in Tbilisi in June of 2010 – it was French School in Vake district, Tbilisi. At the opening ceremony the governmental officials stated that the school was constructed by the French Government; however Bidzina Ivanishvili’s Foundation had allocated 20 million GEL on it.

Ambassador of France to Georgia, President Mikheil Saakashvili and Minister of Education and Science of Georgia Dimitry Shashkin participated in the opening ceremony.

“It is the first school constructed with financial support of the foreign government in Georgia. I would like to underline that it is very clear message to the world that French government supports Georgia, its stability and democracy. It is symbol of our stability,” Dimitry Shashkin stated at the opening ceremony.

When opening the school, Mikheil Saakashvili wished to be a first-grade pupil: “It is the first [high-standard] school in Georgia. I can assure you that I have never seen such a high-level school in post-soviet countries but it is the first one. When we have three or four hundred equal schools in Georgia and several thousand more or less similar schools in Georgia, we will declare that with our education level, with our European education we are already European country, second Singapore who should be our model in educational system and Georgia really has a perfect future. However, the process has started and everything will continue easily. I wish I were 5 now and go to the first grade of this school according to Shashkin’s rules because I would have received really better education; indeed, children before revolution were different.”

It was not the last project funded by so-called Russian project - businessman Bidzina Ivanishvili, which was opened by the government. In April of 2011 the President opened closed swimming pool in Sachkhere. On the same day, renovated water-system was opened in Argveti village.

In 2009-2010 Bidzina Ivanishvili’s foundation allocated 2 302 100 GEL for the construction of the swimming pool; and in 2010 the Foundation spent 1 140 000 GEL on the construction of water system.

In 2005-2010 the businessman spent almost one billion GEL on the charity projects in Georgia. Among them, in 2009-2010 he spent 2 640 100 GEL on the renovation of Janashia State Museum. Like other units, it was also opened by President Saakashvili in June of 2011. The Minister of Culture of Georgia Nika Rurua also attended the presentation. In June 2011 the president also opened the National Gallery [Blue Gallery] of the State Museum. After the rehabilitation, 7 exhibition halls were renovated in the National Gallery.

“This museum was burnt during the Civil War [in 1990s] and its renovation is very important symbol for us; it means Georgia will never return back and will never see civil war or other disorders or public controversies and it must never miss its historical thread towards civilization, cultural and democratic development,” President Saakashvili evaluated the opening of the renovated National Gallery on June 5, 2011.

In 2005-2010, the Charity Foundations of Bidzina Ivanishvili spent 966 897 320. 12 GEL on various projects in Georgia. Among them, in 2005 – 82 020 017, 48 GEL; in 2006 - 257 282 888, 09 GEL; in 2007 - 184 734 569 GEL; in 2008 - 174 421 998, 95 GEL; in 2009 – 129 732 300, 8 GEL and in 2010 - 138 705 545, 8 GEL.

The projects, funded from Ivanishvili’s foundations, were the following: construction/rehabilitation of roads and streets; construction/rehabilitation of education and medical centers; equipment of Georgian public schools with computers; funding of sport federations; construction/rehabilitation of cultural and religious temples; construction of flats for victims of earthquake and internally displaced people, etc.

Netgazeti.ge’s photo: President at the opening ceremony of swimming pool in Sachkhere