Infrastructure Rehabilitation in West Georgia

Description

During and as a result of the wars over the breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in 1991 and 1992, official figures indicate that 220,000 people fled to Georgia proper. Some of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) were housed with relatives, others in converted public buildings. These buildings generally do not meet the conditions for long-term accommodation under adequate housing conditions. In 2007, the Georgian government finally adopted a strategy to deal with the IDPs. The main objective was still to create the conditions for a dignified and safe return of the IDPs. The sub-goals included promoting humane living conditions for the IDPs and their integration into Georgian society. As part of the project, threeaccommodations were renovated and partly extended in the West Georgian towns of Poti, Kutaisi and Tskaltubo. In the city of Zugdidi, 10 new apartment blocks were built. Housing units were to be transferred to IDPs as property to compensate them. This was in line with the reorganisation of Georgian housing policy following the collapse of the Soviet Union.