Georgia, Tbilisi, May 3 / Trend N. Kirtzkhalia /
The EU has successfully completed a project to study compliance with European land plot environmental standards as part of the Tbilisi bypass railway construction, Georgian Railways said today.
The project was financed European Union - European Commission Neighborhood Investment Facility upon the recommendation of the European Reconstruction and Development Bank (EBRD).
The study was conducted by the Danish consultation company COWI. Georgian Railways has signed an agreement with this company in June 2011.
According to the document, a consulting company was to examine the soil in an area of 73 hectares in the center of the Georgian capital, liberated as a result of constructing the Tbilisi bypass railway. New area "Tbilisi City" is planned to be created there.
The land and groundwater, as well as the buildings in the territory were examined within the project. No substances harmful to the environment were revealed. The groundwater is clean. The land meets the safety standards and is ready for the operations to implement the project.
According to the preliminary analysis conducted by Locum and Colliers CRE, this area is of strategic importance for Tbilisi. Georgian Railway said that Apur works over the project. It has been successfully carried out a similar project in Paris.
After studying and analyzing the soil, COWI company will develop a strategy to protect the environment and action plan, which would be a basic guide in the area.
ILF and GRE companies monitor the project of the Tbilisi bypass railway. They must control over all issues relating to the project.
The representatives of the companies have stayed in Georgia since 2010 and will remain until the end of the project.
Georgian Railway has been recently transformed from limited company into the joint stock company. Georgian Railway confirms this, but it does not comment. The experts think that this transformation is stipulated by the intention of the Georgian government to deliver 25
percent of Georgian Railway's shares to the international capital markets.