Whom Does Composers’ House Belong to?

It has become clear that Famous Composers’ House in Borjomi does not belong to composers. Protest demonstrations, held by artists, did not have any results. The argument between composers and the government about transferring the property ended in the latter’s favor. The future of the house depends on the Ministry of Economics.

Musical Fund built the Composers’ House in Borjomi in 1982 and since then, Georgian composers worked there.

Composers learned the news about selling the house by unofficial sources.
In December, the members of the Composers’ Union held peaceful demonstrations in front of the Borjomi Administrative Board several times. They protested the fact of inserting the Composers’ House on the list of privatized buildings. “The Composers’ House never belonged to composers. We pay taxes every year,”-said composer Vazha Azarashvili, the Chairman of the Composers’ House.  Composer Bidzina Kvernadze said that “Nobody will dare to seize us the house.”

According to the members of the union, Nodar Grigalashvili, the chairman of the Educational and Science Committee of the Parliament, is interested in the building. Grigalashvili said that “Composers do not have the property certificate on the building. Thus, there is a law on the art unions and according to it the government decides what to sell and what to grant to these unions; it is government’s prerogative.”

Goga Khachidze, Samtskhe-Javakheti Regional Governor, called the composers’ statement fraudulent: “I have heard nothing about Grigalashvili’s interest in the building. It is false,” said Khachidze.

Composers’ Union has been urging the Public Registration Department for privatization. Though, the Registration Department has registered the property, they do not issue the corresponding documents to the union for allocated taxes the union has not paid for a long time.

The Tax Inspection’s agreement on “Postponing the payment dates of taxes” states that Musical Fund Ltd paid 249 906 GEL from May until October in 2006. However, the building was not registered on composers yet.

“We discovered registration number of the house in the main book of the public registration department,” said the Director General of the Musical Fund, Baram Baramidze.

The government has got interested in the Composers’ House since composers started to register the property.

Sergo Fareishvili, the chief of the Legal Service Department within the Samtskhe-Javakheti Regional Administrative Board, said that Composers’ Union petitioned the regional governor twice and they were replied, too.

Despite the protest demonstrations and produced documents, Borjomi Regional Court found the composers’ house state property and transferred it to the Ministry of Economics.

The ministry of Economics has already launched preparation works for privatization. Nodar Murjikneli, Deputy Director of the Composers’ House, commented on the fact. “They arrived to measure the place. When I asked the people the reason for their acting so, they answered me that officials from the Ministry of Economics ordered them to do it. The government is seizing us property. This building belongs to composers. The land might belong to the state but the building is composers’ property.”

According to unofficial information, foreign investors want to purchase the building like the fourth department [a resort complex in Likani, Borjomi district].

Gulo Kokhodze,Borjomi