Tbilisi Mayor announces structural changes at City Hall

Newly elected Mayor of Tbilisi Kakha Kaladze has said that the city needs structural changes to reduce bureaucracy, speed up the decision-making process and achieve more efficiency.

Kaladze announced the abolishment of a total of 19 commissions within the City Hall.

These included a commission for decorating the city for New Years, also a working group for selecting dog-walking areas and 17 others.

Kaladze said that the relevant departments of the Tbilisi City Hall will be more capable of carrying out these works instead of specially set up commissions, working groups or councils.

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The Mayor also talked about the need for stricter regulations for illegal or partially illegal constructions.

Kaladze said that special attention will be paid to safety issues, especially fire safety norms, and if such norms are not followed, the City Hall will react strictly. It might even demand to demolish such buildings.

He touched upon waste disposal as well and said that garbage bins must be emptied during night hours so that it does not hamper traffic.

Upon the Mayor’s decision, 33 families in Tbilisi were given homes for a symbolic amount of money – 1 lari today. Kaladze said that there are a lot of families in Tbilisi from where several generations live in Tbilisi but they cannot formally privatise their homes. Kaladze said that he was keeping his campaign promise and helping such people become legal owners of their residential apartments.