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Hotel Erected Illegally in Adjara

October 21, 2008

“Toothless 5 Star Legislation for Owner of Establishment”

 Maka Malakmadze, Batumi

 Georgian Hotel Palace is one of the five star hotels in Adjara region. The hotel was opened on June 16, 2008. The situation was rather tricky as there was no official license on the hotel construction at that time. The license does not even exist up to present time. Temur Chkonia, a Georgian businessperson and the owner of Coca-Cola Georgia invested 30 million US Dollars in the hotel construction.

According to the Georgian legal system the construction licenses are issued by a corresponding body of the responsible Municipality. According to the Georgian Government’s Decree # 140 dating August 11, 2005, the Order of Issuing Construction License and License Terms a hotel is the building of sufficient importance and the license on its construction on the territory of Adjara Autonomous Republic must be issued by the Ministry of Finance and Economics of Adjara.

We requested a copy of the license providing for the construction Georgian Hotel Palace from the Ministry of Finance and Economics. “The Ministry of the Finance and Economics of Adjara does not posses the copy of the construction license for the Georgian Hotel Palace situated in Kobuleti,” was the answer from the ministry. Sulkhan Jortmenadze, deputy Minister of Finance and Economics does not deny that his ministry should give the license to the hotel in the first place. “According to the present legal system, the Ministry of Finance and Economics of AAR grants a license to a company based on its application and other presented documents as required the construction of a building which is, according to the Georgian legislation, is of of great importance. “

We also contacted Temur Chkonia, the owner of Georgian Hotel Palace who made a very small comment: “I have no time for commenting upon rumors. Goodbye.” The Human Rights Center tried to check if there is really a copy of a construction license of the Georgian Hotel Palace and addressed the Ministry of Economic Development of Georgia. We sent the information request to Davit Ghonghadze, head of Public Relations Department of the Ministry on October 8. However, he has not responded even though that the reasonable time for information granting has expired under the law.

If there are some violations in the construction process, the Supervision Service of the corresponding Municipality must take appropriate measures. Hence, the Human Rights Center contacted the Supervision Service of Kobuleti District Governor’s Office and asked if they had any construction license on Georgian Hotel Palace. Jumber Chkonia, head of Supervision Service was convinced that the construction license for Georgian Hotel Palace existed. “Of course Georgian Hotel Palace had a license. They addressed the Ministry of Finance and Economics of AAR and received a license. Our department representatives have seen and revised the license. The license is valid.” The head of Supervision Service promised to send us a copy of the license. However, in the end it turned out that they sent not the license but some other document in its place.

Jumber Chkonia says he remembers that the construction of Georgian Hotel Palace was suspended for some time. “We stopped the construction process for the period of one week. There were some gaps in the project about the number of stairs.”

The hotel Georgian Hotel Palace was constructed on the place of former sanatorium called Sakartvelo. The architects and designers of the hotel are Marika Tsagareli, a Georgian architect and Paolo Chuieni and Salvatore Cheruti Italian architects. Temur Chkonia paid 760, 000 US Dollars for the project. There are total 156 rooms in Georgian Hotel Palace and there are several presidential suits among them.

The President of Georgia attended the opening ceremony of the hotel on June 16 and stated: “Second Antalya (a luxurious resort in Turkey) must be also established in the Adjara Region.” The president also stated “many hotels are being constructed in our country. Unfortunately, mainly foreigners work on such constructions. It is noteworthy that owner as well as constructors and staff in the hotel are Georgians. This hotel is a model of how buildings should be constructed in Georgia.’

Lali Ishkhnelidze, the lawyer of the Human Rights Center considers that sanctions must be imposed on Georgian Hotel Palace for not having followed procedures.  “According to the Law on the State Supervision on Architectural-Constructing Activities, the illegal construction in the zone of special construction regulation must be fined 20, 000 GEL. If not paid the fine must be tripled as penalty.  However, the legal system is toothless, and is especially inactive when it comes to the circumstances of the Georgian Hotel Palace.”

 

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