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A Community Sold Out

March 17, 2008

The sorted history of how eight families were deprived of their property by a government that has forgotten its responsibilities!
Maka Malakmadze, Batumi
Eight families residing in Pushkini Street # 13 in Batumi are now homeless. Their homes were auctioned off under the banner of privatization. No consideration was given to the fact that they had documents supporting their property rights by district board that previously existed. These documents stipulated that the now exiled families were to receive alternative flats in newly constructed residential buildings. However, the territory was sold out without any responsibilities.

As Liana Abashidze told “…I owned a one-room flat in the second entrance, on the fifth floor,” There was suppose to be a residential building constructed at Pushkini Street # 13 and a comfortable flat should have been granted to Liana Abashidze in exchange for where she now lives. The guarantee letter issued in 1990 by that-time Executive Committee of the Batumi Public City Council, which made such a proclamation.
Like Liana Abashidze, seven more families hold the same kind of guarantee letters. They still live in the small cottages and shacks that were burned back in 1989. The fortunate ones that did not burn to the ground were repaired. Those living there then started the long wait for the construction of a multi-storied residential building. They had something to look forward to in knowing one day that they would be provided with free flats. There was never any doubt as they had been provided with guarantee letters. However, the construction only got as far as laying the foundation. The project has remained a dead since then and the residents left a never-ending wait.

Currently, the territory, where local residents are located and where the multi-storied residential building was supposed to be completed have been since auctioned-off to the highest bidder. On December 28 2007 Georgian Ministry of Economic Development put up the territory of 2 700 sq. meters of land for 275 thousand GEL. The ministry sold the area for what is considered as very low price, and the lowest asking price square meter was but a mere 162 GEL. As for the land with unfinished construction on it, and a land attached it was assigned to other owner. The order on the privatizing of the territory did not mention the eight families who live there and no mention is made of the guarantees of new flats.
Gocha Vasadze tells, “There are families who have lived on this territory since 1902. As for me, I was born and raised here.”

Maia Jgirinaia. “We have one difficulty now, and we understood that we had to register our accommodations, meaning the slum standard housing were they have been living. The government only allowed for the registration of only one house, which belonged to one of our neighbors. However, that is not right. There are other people living here and we have rights too. We deserve to be equally registered. To make a long story short, upon applying to the corresponding institution that deals with privatization we soon learned that the territory had been sold out.”
On March 11 the populace appealed to the Batumi City Court where they demanded that the process be declared null and void, not only based on the presented administrative documents but also how the process was handled and that the territory was transferred to an unknown person. Locals have also appealed to representative of the Public Defender in seeking that their rights be protected.

Nana Beridze, the lawyer for the inflicted locals tells that transfer was illegally processed: “the flat was not registered under the Communal Fund. Thus, it was impossible for it to have been sold when there was not legal right to sell the property in the first place. Moreover, one of the local residents, Anaida Kirarosian, privatized her house on January 31 2002. However, the City Hall did not privatize the house of my clients for “undetermined” reasons in spite of the fact that they also held corresponding property documents on their houses.”
In 2005 Liana Abashidze was refused to have her house privatized because “Construction works are going on in the area of Pushkini Str. # 13 and we cannot satisfy your request,”- as was written in a letter from head of the department in Batumi that deals with issues of accommodation.
Nonetheless, the Georgian Ministry of Economic Development has arbitrarily assigned the territory to a new owner. The lawyer stated that before the assignment the territory was registered on the Batumi City Hall and the City Hall did not follow its own rules and guidelines in carrying out its responsibilities. “The City Hall would have had to assign the property to Ministry of Economic Development. The process that would have been followed if things had been done property would have taken a census of the people living them and then provide this information the ministry. All would have been documented and people would have provided their documents on the property, which includes guarantee letters whereby they were to have been provided with flats in newly constructed residential building. It is clear that based on those letters the state was responsible to provide these people with housing.”

Gela Makharadze, the head of the Legal Department of the Batumi City Hall stated:
“Any building located on the territory of the self-authoritative unit is a state property unless certain procedures have been followed. Consequently, the area in question belonged to the Georgian Ministry of Economic Development and it was assigned it to a new owner by the Ministry
-On the territory one of the residents had her house privatized. Do you think her house also belongs to the state?
-You should ask that question to them who assigned it.
-If the City hall allowed one citizen to privatize her house, why other neighbors were not given the same right?
-I did not receive any requests about privatization. Those people applied to us about the registration of the land. This law does not take their case into consideration because the territory was attached to the building that belongs to the state.
-Why was not that land transferred to the self-authoritative unit-City Hall- like other property?
-We learn about our properties around the city whenever it is necessary to know. We have not inventoried all of our property. We did not intentionally ignore this particular territory and not give it proper attention. You seem to blame the City Hall for intentionally acting in this way. We intended to start surveying the territory and to appeal to the Ministry for the permission to do this. However, we learned that the Ministry had already announced the auction on the housing estate.
-Why did not the City Hall appeal to the Ministry before that?
-We had not been interested in this piece of land.
Currently, the territory is has been transferred to a new owner. Based on the docket from the Public Registry, Petre Devrishadze is the owner of the territory located on Pushkini Street # 13. He is a resident of Batumi. We tried to get in touch with him but he was not at home. A person close to the family, who preferred to remain anonymous, did not share the number of number of his mobile phone. He only said that Petre Devrishadze was a businessperson and was out of Batumi for now.

 

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