Inga Gvasalia, Samegrelo
As a result of the donors’ conference, 81, 9 million GEL was to be spent on the rehabilitation of the temporary accommodations of the IDPs out of the allocated 4, 55 billion USD. The Municipal Development Fund of Georgia selected the companies as a result of the competition. Like in the entire Georgia, the problems of IDPs are endless in Samegrelo region too.
Four building companies won the competitions in Senaki district – “Mshenebeli 80 Ltd”, “Oda Ltd”, “New Energy Ltd” and “Nova Ltd. There are 8 517 IDPs registered in Senaki district. Among them, 4 217 IDPs live in private sector and 4 300 IDPs live in the organized sector. The IDPs live in 45 buildings in total. The reconstruction activities have not finished in 16 of them yet.
Most IDPs in Senaki live in 32 buildings in the former military settlement. They complain about poorly rehabilitated accommodations loudly. We found almost equal situation in the former military settlement. Although, several windows have double glasses installed in metal-plastic frames, the rain water leaks into it. The water leaks in the roofs too; the walls are cracked and the wallpaper is also spoilt; the floor is damaged, the sewerage water leaks into the basement from where it drains outside into the street.
“We have been living in similar conditions for several months. We called the building company administrations several times but nobody paid attention to us. Nobody cares about our problems. The rain and snow is falling into our flats. They used to appear here only once a month during the construction activities too. We live like ancient people. We applied to everybody for help but in vain. After the construction activities we hoped we would live in normal conditions but real disaster started since then. The rain water was not leaking before reconstruction. The floor is already damaged and the wallpaper has removed from the walls,” said an IDP from Sokhumi Igor Gogokhia.
The IDPs in the next building have the same problems. An IDP from Ochamchire Inga Papava also complains: “The water system was badly installed. The tap went wrong in the kitchen within a month; the tap in the bathroom is rusty. We applied to the building companies several times but in vain. They should have done their work properly. The activities lasted five months; we lived in unbearable conditions meanwhile and waited for them to finish the building. We also spent our funds on the reconstruction. Many IDPs changed the builders and hired other people. Many workers ran away because they did not like the wages of the building companies.”
IDP Vladimer Kilasonia complained about wages with us. The building company “Oda” did not pay him the wages of several months. Kilasonia said the company does not pay the salary arrears of about 30 workers.
After the military settlement we visited the former building of the boarding school. The building is “shining” outside. The windows have metal-plastic frames; the entrance door is also metal-plastic. The only thing a visitor might dislike outside is the hills of rubbish in the yard.
“Have you seen the flats?! Do you see the cracked walls?! The floor is moving; the sewerage system does not work. We have to fetch water from the yard. They have hung cardoon doors and none of them closes properly,” said IDP Liana Papava.
“The walls are cracked in my flat too. The floor is also moving. The door to the balcony was hung backward. The rain is leaking into the room and it damaged the floor. They pretend to have renovated our accommodations. Everything was done in extremely poor quality. Who cares about us; who pays attention to us?!” asked Tinatin Siordia.
Lamara Chanturia, who lives on the ground floor, has one more problem alongside the cracked walls and damaged floor: “I paid 300 GEL for the cardoon boards to partition off the room. I am a disabled person. I bought it with my two-month pension. I bought the paints and nails too. I have recorded everything. If somebody pays attention to us, I will show them the paper.
“Why has not Subeliani visited us at least once? They pay only 2 GEL to the workers and sometimes they do not even receive that money and we canot blame the workers in the problems. It is the fault of those people who are in charge of these activities. Let the Minister come and see how the people live. Senaki is left without attention! What kind of renovation is this? They repaired my room but left the corridor without reconstruction,“ Ineza Sartania said.
The same situation is on the second floor of the second building. The IDPs say that water leaks through the windows in each building.
“We carry buckets and cloths at night. They had to install double glass in window frames; but where do you see double glasses? You can see it yourself. I have eight children and they gave me only three rooms. Can the third room be called a room? It is an attic. Two of my sons were taken in hostage during the war in Abkhazia. They have nervous since then. We live on their pensions. My father-in-law was killed there... They made poor reconstruction everywhere,” Roza Barateli said.
There is thick cloth spread on every window frame of the building. The walls they have painted is cracked everywhere. The laminated floor is not steady and it is rocking everywhere.
We peeped in to the ground floor of the former building of the boarding-school of the railway. We saw that the four families with underage children had enough space here. The first floor entirely belongs to them. The reconstruction activities finally ended which had started in May of2009; however the family still complains:”They say that the plaster was cracked on the walls because of the outdated paint. We brought workers to plaster the walls, but look at it. It is not flat at all. Why do you expect us to do better job when they pay only 2 GEL a day? -The workers used to say,”-the IDP from Drandi Spartak Chichua`s wife said.
Representatives of the company “Mshenebeli 80” disagree with the IPDs. They denied the allegation that they did not pay wages to the workers.
As we found out the company “Nova” was fined by 108 000 GEL for postponing the reconstruction activities.
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