Electricity illuminates rural Georgian village

A small village in northern Georgia is emerging from the darkness for the first time.

Electricity now surges through Bevreti, a village in the Mtskheta-Mtianeti region. Until now, the village had been deprived of electricity.

The Prime Minister of Georgia helped illuminate one family during his regional visit. Figuratively, PM Irakli Garibashvili turned on the light at Zaur Mgeladze’s family home.

Like others in Bevtreti village, the Mgeladze family could not access electricity because of a lack of proper infrastructure.

Garibashvili regrettably said a lack of electricity meant many people had deserted the village. Official figures showed 52 families were registered to live in the village however most had left. Now, only six families remained in Bevreti, Garibashvili said.

"I believe by providing villages with basic infrastructure like electricity, gas and water, people will start to come back to the villages,” Garibashvili said during his visit to the Mtskheta-Mtianeti region.

Garibashvili, who was accompanied by Energy Minister Kakha Kaladze, said individual electricity power boxes had been installed in the village and a 10km electricity line had been constructed.

The total cost of bringing Bevreti village into the light was 233000 GEL.

Figures showed 35 villages throughout Georgia did not have access to electricity last year. Eight of those villages have since been connected with power.

By the end of 2015, the PM said a further 12 villages would be connected to the national grid.

Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili visited several villages in Mtskheta-Mtianeti region today to learn about issues in the local community and present the Governor (Gamgebeli) candidates for various districts.