In Georgia, Preserving the Past Is Cause for Controversy

While details are still unclear, a draft law submitted to parliament in April would include a special tax levied against residents of Georgia's multiple historic districts to fund long overdue renovations. The fees would be applied to Tbilisi first, then gradually applied to other Georgian towns.

Officials maintain that without the support for restoration projects, these historic areas -- a potential prime attraction for much-desired foreign tourists -- will simply crumble. According to media reports, the plan calls for residents living in historic districts to pay anywhere from ten tetri (six cents) to 1.5 lari (89 cents) per square meter of property per month for the duration of a rehabilitation project.

Parliament must, however, first pass the draft law authorizing the tax -- expected by the end of the month -- and city district councils must then determine the final fees.

In Tbilisi, though, many residents accuse the government of blindly pursuing gentrification; part of an ongoing beautification campaign of the Georgian capital, they say, that has overlooked more pressing social welfare issues.

Pensioner Givi Tkepuadze did some rapid arithmetic outside his apartment building on Kojori Street in Tbilisi's historic Sololaki district one afternoon. "Look here, I have a 105 square meter [apartment]. How much should I pay every month? I have a 45 lari (about $26.84) pension -- how can I pay that?" he asked. "One hundred years this building has been standing here. No one ever came and asked for money. What are they doing?"

Tbilisi Mayor Gigi Ugulava estimates that it will cost some 300 million lari (about $179.5 million) to renovate the city, and has asserted that the population should "participate" in the renovation work. During a June 2 tour of Old Tbilisi with US Ambassador John Tefft, the mayor argued that residents have an obligation to keep up their own neighborhoods.

"I think it is very normal when the state invests more than 95 percent [in renovation projects], the owners also take care and participate [in] increasing the capitalization of their own property," he said.

"They will be -- they are -- on the path of the rehabilitation," Ugulava said, pointing to some decrepit houses not far from a newly constructed historical route for tourists leading up to Tbilisi's 4th-8th century Narikala fortress. The ministry of culture and the city government are now working together to identify which buildings and homes will be renovated, he said.

The details, though, of who will be taxed for which buildings in Old Tbilisi are still being decided. Ugulava added that there "are a lot of rumors" about the tax, and that it is not the only option for funding renovation projects.

First Deputy Minister of Culture Nika Vacheishvili told EuraisaNet that the plan could take about a year for full implementation and is designed to occur in stages. The work would start in Tbilisi and only slowly and gradually expand to historic districts in other Georgian towns.

"When we choose a concrete part, a small part [of a town] because this is very expensive, as you know, then it will be decided how much should be paid by citizens and how much from the central budget," Vacheishvili said. "There is no need to be afraid, it should be said right away, because people will pay for remodeling their own homes. [If they don't have the money] what can they do? They have to think and obtain that money."

Already, work has begun on one project -- by August a $10 million tender will be announced for the complete reconstruction of the water, sewage and gas lines in the Tbilisi district of Sololaki, a neighborhood treasured for its typical -- though now crumbling -- Georgian architecture. Two weeks ago, a town square was also completely renovated by the administration of the six-month-old District of Old Tbilisi.

But Old Tbilisi residents like Khatuna Rukhadze, whose home is near the new historic route for tourists, question where the city government expects them to find the funds to contribute.

"This will be very hard if they pass a law saying it will cost us 1.50 lari," she said. "If the government wants to do something, I will be ready to help and do something. But alone I cannot do anything and paying will be difficult. My [monthly] salary is 30 lari. [roughly $18]."

How exactly the funds raised from a tax will be spent is another cause for concern among Old Tbilisi residents. Both pensioner Tkepuadze and his neighbor, Eka Kalandarishvili, noted that their apartment buildings' foundations are rotting from underground water leaks, leaving little time for rehabilitation.

"[I]f people pay this money, what will they spend it on? What do they intend to do with that money?" asked Kalandarishvili. Tkepuadze notes that television reports have provided their only information about the tax, but that coverage stopped once the draft law that would implement the fees hit parliament.

Lasha Purtkhvanidze, head of the newly created Old Tbilisi district, argues that the controversy is a question of mentality. While city residents had no ownership rights during the Soviet era, he commented, now they own property in one of Tbilisi's most prestigious neighborhoods, but are not paying for the district's upkeep and care. People living in historic districts must understand they are caretakers for the city's heritage, he added.

"We are not forcing anybody [to leave their homes] but we are forcing them to understand that this [historic Old Tbilisi] is our ownership, the ownership of each citizen," he said. "I understand that this is your apartment, but it is a part of [the] old city. You are not alone in some field."