Village Support Program Revival

From 2019, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development of Georgia plans to revive the village support program, said Mzia Giorgobiani, the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development.

The village support program, which included the implementation of small infrastructure projects in the regions of Georgia, was closed in 2016, during the government reform.

"It is planned to restore the village support program. At this stage we are working with the local authorities to select the right projects with the help of the population, and with the Ministry of Finance to agree on the amount of funds" – said Giorgobiani.

The state support program for villages was launched in Georgia in 2009 under the rule of the third President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, and operated until 2016.

The program financed an average of up to 100 projects a year, which were chosen by the villagers themselves. After the termination of the program, local authorities and politicians have repeatedly asked for its resumption, since the problems with the infrastructure of the villages were ignored and the work of the Ministry of Regional Development was focused on the implementation of large-scale projects.

After Mamuka Bakhtadze became the Prime Minister of Georgia in the summer of 2018, the government began talking about the importance of villages and their well-being, and promised to carry out reforms in this direction.

By Shawn Wayne