Two-year-long Fight Will End With Series of Detention to Avoid Danger

In Gurjaani, Zurab Bagashvili protests the opening of the petrol station in Tavisupleba Street #6 near his house. He appealed to the court in March 2006 to ban the construction; however, his appeal is still being discussed. The building of the station will soon end. Although the petrol station was built by breaching the law and threatens the life of the people living nearby, the Gurjaani District Administrative Board has decided to give a license for its functioning. 

The design of that construction was drawn up by Nika 96 Ltd. Levan Mekerishvili, main Architect of the Gurjaani District, has approved it. Journalistic investigation discovered some documents on construction. The construction is mentioned in some of these documents as a petrol station, while in others it is mentioned as an auto service complex. Bagashvili said that the owner of the station is Individual Entrepreneur Giorgi Tuniashvili, who is supported by former chief of the Telavi District Tax Inspection, Davit Katamashvili. The latter tried to design the construction following the law, but as he could not do that, he finally gave up. “Petrol is a carcinogenic substance and it is dangerous to people’s health. While designing the petrol station, the construction, fire and sanitary codes should be strictly followed. In this particular case all codes are broken. According to the Georgian Labor, Health and Social Ministry’s October 6, 2003 decree # 234/n, the size of the sanitarian zone of the petrol station should be 50 meters away from the residential buildings. In my case, the distance between my house and the station is five meters. Tuniashvili did not agree about the construction with the Fire Department, though it is obligatory. As for the rest of Tuniashvili’s documents, all of them breach the codes,” said Bagashvili.

Lawyer Lia Chuniashvili said that under the law, the distance between residential houses and a petrol station can be reduced up to 50-20 meters if the station is aimed to serve less than 500 cars a day. However, Tuniashvili has blatantly breached the law even in this case.

“We have appealed the court twice to halt the construction and the judge satisfied our appeal both times. However, the accused appealed the verdict in both cases and the judge abolished the initial decisions,” said Chuniashvili.

The construction might have been prevented because of this and many other problems. The Georgian Road Department has not allowed the construction of petrol station along the Akhmeta-Telavi-Bakurtsikhe motor-way. 

The Road Department issued the license for construction after Akaki Sikharulidze, temporary Gamgebeli of Gurjaani District, had supported Tuniashvili in front of officials for the department. “The Georgian Road Department takes in consideration the mediation of the Gurjaani District Administrative Board # 1163, thus, the department allows Giorgi Tuniashvili to build the auto service station. However, he is obliged to follow technical conditions; otherwise this allowance will be abolished. The department has the power to appeal the corresponding bodies to halt or destroy the construction. The department also has the power to remove the station if codes are breached and deprives itself from the responsibilities towards the individual entrepreneur Tuniashvili,” Giorgi Tsereteli, Deputy Chairman of the Road Department stated in his letter.

As it was already mentioned, nobody has agreed on the design with the fire, environmental and sanitary service departments. Tuniashvili has Patrol Police Kakheti Department agreement on the construction. However, the agreement states that unless the Road Department’s demands are followed, the agreement will be abolished.  
Officials from the Gurjaani Municipality said that Sikharulidze mediated Tuniashvili with the Road Department in exchange for some favors. Vano Natroshvili, the head of the Infrastructural Department of the Gurjaani Municipality, said that “Sikharulidze seems to have been interested by something in this business.”

Journalist: Mr. Vano, what do you mean by saying Sikharulidze was favored, and are you going to grant the license to the petrol station?

Natroshvili: I cannot say for what the people use to mediate others. As for exploitation of the petrol station, if we do not find any violations with it, we will give it the license, of course.
Tuniashvili thinks that he has not violated construction codes at all. “I have a letter from the Georgian State Inspection of Technical Supervision. It states that the main plan for the construction shows that the station borders with the book shop and it is 12 meters from the petrol station. Minimal distance between the patrol station and residential buildings must be 5 meters and the wall between them should be 2, 5 meters high and fire-proof. All these norms will be followed,” said Tuniashvili.

The main plan for the construction was not settled with the patrol police department, Technical Supervision Inspection or other bodies either. Tuniashvili said that it is not necessary to agree on the document with these groups. “Many changes were not introduced during the construction. Thus it is not necessary to settle the case once more with those groups,” said Tuniashvili, who added that he had followed the details mentioned in the agreement letter with the Road Department.

After a two-year-long argument Bagashvili applied to the Human Rights Center for help. Lawyers from the center investigated the case and concluded that law enforcers must draw their attention to the activities of individual entrepreneur Giorgi Tuniashvili, district high-ranking officials, and Architectural Department, as well as the expert’s conclusion and the silence of the Road Department. Human Rights Center is going to appeal to the Prosecutor’s Office in the near future.   

Gela Mtivlishvili, Kakheti