We Must Catch Up and Overtake Time – Drivers Will Use Autoban Opened on November 23 Only in 2010

Eka Lomidze, “Kviris Palitra”

On December 3, a car-accident happened near Igoeti village on Tbilisi-Leselidze motor-way – driver of the “Infinite Jeep” could not control the car and it made several turns in the air. Fortunately, nobody died in the accident. It happened on the new autoban which was opened on November 23 by the government and president of Georgia.

On that day, it was reported that hereinafter one-way motor-way would be opened between Tbilisi and Gori; double traffic on narrow road and dangerous places on the road remained in the past. However, on the day of the abovementioned car-accident people learned that Tbilisi-Gori road was not ready to serve drivers; so it was closed again. The Auto-Transport Road Department also confirmed this information and stated that the autoban opened on November 23 will start working in 2010. Meanwhile, various parts of the road will be closed for various activities. It is clear that nobody would say at the department that the road was not ready yet though governmental officials hurried them up.

I personally witnessed one fact several months ago. Near Igoeti village, when the Grakliani mountain was cut off, journalists arrived at the place to see unique archeological discoveries; we were about to interview the head of the expedition, his phone called. Somebody demanded him to finish the archeological cuts within one week. The archeologist urged the stranger to give some time to finish the work because it was impossible to finish everything in such a short time. His words were followed by shouting – we have our timetable and you should finish your work within the estimated time. Of course, the stranger was concerned about the opening ceremony of November 23.

How can a job be done much earlier than it is necessary? We will lose much time if we start to name the work done in a hurry and low quality. For example, we can mention the Tbilisi International Airport. Government of Georgia compelled Turkish investor and builders to finish construction before November 23 or December 21 (the birthday of the president). They finished in a hurry and as soon as strong wind blew the roof of the airport flew away. By the way, on November 23, “European underground passage” was opened in Tatris Moedani in old Tbilisi; however, now water is fleeing in it and people do not feel themselves in Europe at all.

What shall we receive from hurriedly built autoban? Auto-Transport Road Department claims the roads are constructed at high quality and within 25 the concrete autoban will not need reconstruction at all. However, they say in order to keep the road in good conditions, it shall be repaired very often. Here we have the new road and time will show the results. It is fact that we live in illusions – autoban is opened but is not opened; fountains are opened in some districts but next day water is cut; entities of international level are opened but soon we find out that they do not comply with standards…

Gia Khukhashvili, expert of economic science: “The government, oriented on PR-actions, is hurrying to create virtual picture of welfare. These people are competing with time; they want to overrun it. So, very often the job done in a hurry is not of high quality. As we found out it was a TV-show and in fact the road was not finished. The government has one-day plans and does not care what will be tomorrow. The most important for them is to show off before the society. They will think of tomorrow only tomorrow. The government is building this system according to poor schemes; within this system they keep the builders as hostages. Today, even if the government desires to change something, they will not do it because they are hostages of their deed – the house of cards which will pull down as soon as one detail is removed.

Just imagine living in a poorly built house which can pull down any moment. Our government is in similar situation now. In order to keep on, they look for their functions and that’s why they are aggressive; they permanently speak about enemies and fight against popular people. Recent speeches about patriarch of Georgia expose this situation. They act with the method of hiding. They want to make people forget hunger, cold, hard life, injustice… How does every news program start? They speak about H1N1 or meningococcemia - should it be the main topic of news programs; this information shall hush other more important problems; PR-technologists work on it. However, it does not have long-lasting effect. It aims to zombie people only for one day.”

P.S. According to the Auto-transport department, the autoban will be temporarily blocked in certain areas from Tbilisi to Gori because of repair activities. The builders say this road will definitely take you from Tbilisi to Gori but exact date is not known yet…