Audit Office: Third of Planted Trees in Tbilisi in 2015-2016 Dried

One-third of the trees planted in Tbilisi in 2015-2016 have died, according to the report of Georgia’s State Audit Office (SAO).

SAO added that Tbilisi City Hall spent the money allocated for tree-planting inefficiently, spending 24,730,300GEL on planting around 398,000 trees.

The report reads that according to the 2015 project of the Tbilisi Mayor’s Office, they aimed to plant 400,000 trees - 200,000 in spring and 200,000 in autumn.

The SAO says that in spring 2015 only 72,043 trees were planted, and in autumn the City Hall purchased 326,100 trees. In total, they planted 398,143 trees in 2015 instead of the agreed 400,000.

2016 was similar, with Tbilisi City Hall planting only 13,000 instead of agreed 20,000.

The report also listed some shortcomings, adding that Tbilisi City Hall did not have sufficient areas selected for planting trees.

SAO added that the contract, made with the company responsible for the works, was not good enough as it did not envisage replacement of dead trees with new ones.

“[The] majority of planted trees near the Oncology Center dried [up], or no longer exist. The spending of  Mayor's Office in this regard was ineffective,” the report of the State Audit Office reads.

By Thea Morrison