On April 27, representatives of the civil sector met with the Mayor of Rustavi, Nino Latsabidze, at the Rustavi City Hall.
The meeting was attended by representatives of up to 15 non-governmental organizations and media outlets.
The purpose of the meeting was to voice the problems, challenges, interests, and needs of the city’s population; in turn, the mayor provided information on the steps being taken by the municipality in these directions.
Among the issues raised at the meeting was the importance of strengthening forms of public involvement and the City Hall’s plans to intensify communication with citizens.
As Nino Latsabidze noted, various forms of communication with the public are being implemented and actively planned in the city. For example, there is currently an advisory council consisting of 40 people with different experiences and work profiles; also, from March 1, the campaign “Generation for the Future” began, within which the mayor met face-to-face with students from various schools and listened to their needs. Additionally, the creation of a youth advisory council is planned to give young people the opportunity to communicate directly with the City Hall.
The civil sector welcomes all this, but the need to showcase the results of this involvement was also noted so that everyone can see what results each specific mechanism has produced. The problem of intensive urban development was raised at the meeting, with the development of spaces that could have been used for recreational purposes and are now undergoing construction work being particularly problematic.
According to the mayor, they can no longer cancel the construction permits issued in previous years for certain territories at this stage, but attention will be paid to the issue of developing such spaces with new planning, and they will try to ensure that new development is within the law. Also, in this direction, several changes may be made to the general plan.
Another issue concerned the problem of direct transport between Rustavi and Marneuli.
The mayor noted that at this stage, the main focus will be on solving the problem of the road connecting Rustavi and Tbilisi.
One of the most important issues we discussed at the meeting is the water problem in Rustavi.
According to the mayor, the company GWP has taken on the obligation to improve the water supply problem in the city by implementing projects worth about 30 million GEL, whether it’s switching from old to new pipes, solving the sewage system, etc.
In addition to these issues, we discussed the rehabilitation of squares at the entrance to Rustavi and other places, the problem of illegally built garages and fenced territories, and gender-related issues.
On our part, the main emphasis was placed on the importance of thematic meetings with the civil sector, and once again we offered the mayor to organize working meetings at least quarterly on improving air quality, as well as other environmental activities.