On August 13th, on the mountain of Feria, in the former military base building, 8 families were forced to empty the building by the police officers. The land and the building have a new owner. The company “Hestock Batumi” bought the Feria Mountain from the head of Adjara government Levan Varshalomidze for a symbolic price – 1 lari.
“Hestock Batumi” plans to construct an entertainment center and a ropeway in this territory.
For more than 10 years families that suffered from landslides and fires have been living in the two-storey apartment building arbitrarily. They belong to the category of socially vulnerable people. The state offers an alternative shelter only to two families of the military officials. The rest 6 families have no shelter at all.
“Where can I go, I have nowhere to go. I’ve been living here for 10 years now. The landslide ruined my house in the village of Khikhaziri, Khulo region and I came here afterwards. During Abashidze time, we were allowed to live here and even promised to have it legalized. Now, they are telling us to leave this place immediately,” – says the resident of the former military base building.
The people evicted from the building say that they could not contact the official authorities for the past six months: “we were always told that the Minster Vaja Bolkvadze is on leave.”
Maka Malaymadze, Adjara