Tbilisi Hosts an International Conference Organized by the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia
The Third International Conference – “Motor Roads and Underground Utilities” – organized by the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia was opened today by the Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia Mr. Davit Narmania.
Opening statements were delivered by: the Vice-Premier, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia Mr. Giorghi Kvirikashvili, Chairman of Tbilisi Sakrebulo, Irakli Shikhiashvili, Rector of the Technical University, Mr. Irakli Prangishvili and foreign guests.„I am pleased that this Conference is being held “, – declared Giorghi Kvirikashvili, – „Introduction of current technologies and modern monitoring systems is very important for the road safety. We are initiating adoption of international standards for control and therefore sharing of experience is rather well-timed for us.“
Davit Narmania addressed the issues of the current condition of infrastructure in the country and the reforms planned in the above-mentioned field. “Roads and underground utilities are considerable components of the present-day infrastructure. Each and every state that is concerned with the welfare of its population pays a great deal of attention to them. We want to keep pace with the times and develop sustainable communications” – declared the Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia, – “All of us remember how the roads were being paved in Georgia and then shortly afterwards being unpaved in order to replace underground utilities, if the roads and underground service lines are not treated as a comprehensive whole, there will be a constant disorder in the public infrastructure. Now we have to observe everything in perspective, if we ‘got through’ the year 2013 with a one-year operational plan, soon we will have a 2014-2017 strategic activity plan and a new road map, which will be inherently linked with underground utilities and show in detail our projects for the following four years”.
The Minister noted, that their institution is creating a common system for the up-to-date management of projects, “over 200 projects under implementation by the Ministry itself and five times as much projects, which are being implemented by us with the local municipalities will be incorporated in the global system, it will reflect the whole work cycle – starting from the project proposals through the project hand-over, which will be an updated level in terms of better project management.”
Davit Narmania once again underlined that quality is one of the top priorities for the new government of Georgia. He noted: “the new regulations, which were developed by us for the road works in order to establish current national standards, are required for the qualitative and sustainable project implementation. We can’t afford the luxury of implementing short-term projects with the funds attracted from international donors; we may require greater resources to come up with more efficient results. For qualitative outcomes, we have introduced a periodic checkup mechanism; control and monitoring are the best means of prompt detection and removal of shortcomings. Periodic checkups of works, regulation of standards and strict adherence to them during work execution are three concepts ensuring high quality performance.”
Prior to the conference opening, the guests and participants visited an exhibition of technical equipment, which was organized in the yard of the Technical University Administrative Building. “By means of this exhibition we wanted to render a service to the companies, which sell technical equipment in our market”, stated Davit Narmania, -“This is a good possibility of information exchange between them and building companies operating in our country”.
The third International Conference – “Motor Roads and Underground Utilities” is a three-day conference, it will be closed on September 13.
