Tbilisi Mayor Criticizes Former Gov’t for Making Deal with C.T. Park

Davit Narmania, the Mayor of Tbilisi, says the former ruling party United National Movement (UNM) made an unprofitable deal with the company C.T. Park, which regulates parking in the capital.

Narmania made the statement in response to independent member of Tbilisi City Council (Sakrebulo), Aleksandre Elisashvili and Republican member, Davit Zurabishvili, who requested the Mayor’s Office suspend the contract with C.T. Park, saying the service costs and rules have raised various questions with regards to the company.

The Mayor’s Office had earlier stated it could not abolish the agreement with the company, as, according to international auditing company Ernst & Young, cancellation of the agreement will cost the Mayor’s office 25 million GEL in expenses.

“This idea needs more arguments in favor- the city cannot become victim of such irresponsible and reckless statements. But the previous government did make a one-sided agreement with C.T. Park which prevents us from suspending the agreement,” the Mayor stated.

Narmania had meetings with representatives of C.T. Park but the parties were unable to agree on new regulations.

“We cannot cancel or make any reasonable changes to his agreement unless C.T. Park agrees, and at present we do not have their consent to do so,” said the Mayor.

The contract with C.T. Park was signed in 2007 during the rule of UNM. Its term expires in 2025.

Several days ago, Sakrebulo members Elisashvili and Zurabishvili called on the Mayor’s Office to pay the 25 million GEL fine from the city budget, saying during the last three years the amount of fines paid by Tbilisi residents to C.T. Park amounted to 62 million GEL, only 18 million GEL of which was transferred to the Tbilisi budget.

As the MPs noted, the City Hall and C.T. Park contract is valid until 2025, which means that within this period the parking company can be expected to receive more than 270 million GEL from the people.

“Parking should be a municipal service, and it should be governed by City Hall until a new tender is announced,” stated Elisashvili.

C.T. Park has been operating in Tbilisi for around nine years and has an exclusive right to arrange and administer parking lots. However, Tbilisi residents disapprove of the work of the company, saying the costs are high and the cars are often taken to the pound illegally.

Thea Morrsion