GUYED BRIDGE FOOTING IS ALSO A BASIS OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (ABSTRACT)

Sophico Sichinava

For 12 years when a country developed as it might, roads became most damaged and the chain reaction led to even more damage.

At first glance, it is the separation of functions between road services of municipal and settlement points that causes so much trouble. But if it was not so, the roads that connect different parts of country would not exist, too. Nowadays, the main priority of the sphere is, so to say, maintenance of existing roads with minimal expenses, as the budget will not be able to allocate sufficient funds for maintaining roads for quite a long time. Given the present capability, there is no chance for settling sufficient funds. Modern roads, as a rule, are built by investments and are considered a profitable business. We have an interview with Roman Dalikishvili, traffic department chairman.
– We have recently been to a meeting of roadmen in France where we had the chance to attend one of exhibitions devoted to building technology and mechanisms. For the time being, we cannot even dream of having all of the complete set. We have only things that came to us through grants and credits of the World Bank, Kuwait, Japan, and this was some years ago so it cannot be called modern.
From the viewpoint of technology and financing as well as in traffic and other spheres we are in the role of laggards, but our position is more favourable given the existing international experience and practice as we do not have to invent a bicycle anew. Application of this practice in Georgia requires much less time.
Training level of our roadmen might correspond to that of foreigners but we have no rigging or finances. That is why it is tantamount to fantasy or dream to think of catching up with foreigners with our own efforts. Notwithstanding the priority of road restoration issue it is also a fantasy to think of allocating sufficient budget funds for road rehabilitation. About 600-700 million dollars are necessary for bringing our roads to the level of 1988. The budget will have no such opportunities for 2-3 years. Therefore, our main objective is to maintain existing roads. The second objective is to repair much damaged roads within 10-12 years. Being head of traffic department I attach more importance to maintaining roads as this will involve less expense. If we spend money for already ruined roads, repairable roads might come out of order, and we will never achieve desirable effect this way.
Yet for instance 150-200 million laris were allocated by the budget, but the existing productive capacity will not be able to cope with such volume. In this situation foreign investments or interest of local investors in this business is very important.
Hence, budget funds should be used solely for maintenance of existing roads. As for construction, reconstruction, modernization, etc., it will take our budget a long time to finance such works.
– Is a long discussed construction of autobahns also a fantasy?
– Autobahns should be built at the expense of credits or investors. Italians have shown quite perspective interest in road constructions. Turks have built an autobahn Sarpi and Azerbaijanians built autobahn in Tsiteli Khidi. New opportunities are sure to arise in our territory in the form of grants or investments. Intensity grows at high rates. For instance, Tbilisi-Gori area. If we are 2-3 years late, this area can become impassable not because there will be no road there, but rather no cars will go on it. Simple obstacle might lead to great traffic jam. I was very surprised when Italians showed their interest in roads. I came to a conclusion that they knew business well and they would not work at a loss. They find money in credit and perform construction works. During the construction process a builder’s profit should range from 10 to 15%. Let us say 10%. If the total volume of works is 2 billion Euros, then a construction company gains 200 million Euros during the building process as there are no construction works in Europe, billions worth of mechanisms are less engaged and are morally and physically worn out. If today its cost is X, next year it will cost half of the sum. That is why during its use amortization is included in cost price. They manage to sell this mechanism in such indirect way gaining up to 7-8% income. The most important thing is that electric power price is much lower in Georgia than in Europe. For instance, fuel. It is expensive only here for us, while in Europe its price is twice as much. From this point of view, business in Georgia is very attractive for investors.
– Can you tell what will be the average cost of autobahn Sarpi-Tsiteli Khidi?
– We have prepared Poti-Tsiteli Khidi feasibility plan. If the existing road is used for Tsiteli Khidi-Zestaphoni direction, it will cost 4 billion Euro for a 4-line one. If the road is not used it will cost 2 billion and 600 million Euro for 6-line one.
I believe that sooner or later this plan will be implemented. Building of autobahn will automatically lead to rehabilitation of local roads. The chain reaction will in its turn promote tourism development.