President’s Palace will be the university

The outgoing president, Mikheil Saakashvilis palace will become the Georgian-American Technological University. There also will be an exhibition hall, manuscripts exposition and conference halls.

According to the Minister of Education and Science of Georgia, Tamar Sanikidze, the author of this idea is president-elect Giorgi Margvelashvili, who rejected to working in Saakashvilis Palace.

"I had some consultations with Giorgi Margvelashvili and he considers that palace should be used in the educational field. He has initiated to establish there Georgia-American University. I think this is perfect decision about presidents palace. said Tamar Sanikidze.

After the elections ended, president-elect Giorgi Margvelasvili said that this palace belongs to citizens and not to the authorities.

"This palace should be given to the people. I have no desire to work there. This palace is the peoples property. I want to discuss this issue with my teammates, said Giorgi Margvelashvili.

After the Presidents Swearing-In Ceremony, Giorgi Margvelashvili will work at the new Palace on St. Atoneli in Tbilisi, where the reconstruction has been occurring since 2012. From the outset, this palace was targeted for the ex-prime minister, Vano Merabishvili, who is imprisoned nowadays.

Presidents palace in Avlabari, the oldest part of Tbilisi, was built in 2004-2009. The budget for the Palace was a discussion subject for years of Georgian media and oppositional parties. According to the officials, during the first 4 years, Government spent nearly 40 million dollars for Palace building. But some oppositional newspapers claimed that the budget was more than 800 million dollars.