Chkhobadze: Svaneti Disaster Not Caused by 'Nenskra Hydro' Construction

The disaster in Svaneti was not caused by the construction of the ‘Nenskra Hydro’ power plant, according to Nino Chkhobadze, an Environmental Expert and Chairman of ‘Green Movement of Georgia – Friends of the Earth’.

She noted that any type of construction carries some risk and impacts the environment. However, the construction of ‘Nenskra Hydro’ was not at the stage to have caused flooding. 

“’Nenskra Hydro’ could not have affected or caused the disaster, but the company in charge of the project implementation was given strict recommendations on their geology not being fully studied. Up in the valley, there are serious landslide risks. The whole geology needs to be done along with risk assessment after the current situation. We have to ask ourselves, what would be the optimal solution? Build the power plant and be at risk? Or be at risk and don’t build the power plant and seek other measures, a more expensive option? An arch was being constructed, and God save us, it was not yet built. Otherwise, water would have flooded the entire area or caused a landslide in the mountains.  If it were a different situation, it could have caused more gravitational damage, something that occurred in Zhinvali – a serious flooding incident. No one can predict if the situation would have been better or worse. The fact is, ‘Nenskra Hydro’ did not affect the disaster in any way. But ‘Nenskra Hydro’ needs to reconsider and change the design of the project,” Chkobadze said.

According to the National Environmental Agency, on the night of 5 July, due to an abundance of atmospheric sediment, a flood occurred in Nenskra River causing mudflows. 

The village of Chuberi and several other areas are remote, but nevertheless were flooded. Bridges connecting the villages, and two houses were damaged during the disaster. 

By Anna Zhvania