Tbilisi Mayor: Fees for tree felling should increase, money used to plant new ones
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Fees for cutting green plants by construction companies might increase, says Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze.
Kaladze said that the current fee for cutting down a tree is "inadequately low” and needs to be increased by several times.
He tasked the ecology service of the Tbilisi City Hall to prepare a legislative project to better regulate this issue.
"I want to task the Municipal Department of Environment and Landscaping as well as [Deputy Mayor] Maia Bitadze to personally get involved in the process of issuing new construction permits. This is very important in order to avoid issuing construction permits on account of green areas, parks and squares”, Kaladze said.
As for those permits that have already been issued but tree cutting fees have not been paid yet, Kaladze instructed his employees to make such companies re-plant the trees somewhere else and take care of them.
Kaladze said that under the current legislation, a company has to pay 700 GEL for each cut tree, which the mayor thinks is "really not serious”. He has asked his employees to work closely with parliament to make changes to the law.
He added that once these fees double, triple or increase by several times, the money received must be used to create more green areas in the city, better the environment and take care of squares and parks.
Second stage of New Tiflis project announced
Georgia’s capital Tbilisi is undergoing rapid and major transformation to renovate the Orbeliani Square in the city’s centre within the second stage of the New Tiflis project.
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.
The 2018 budget for Tbilisi City Hall is about 880 million GEL, 60 million GEL more than was planned initially.
Newly elected Mayor of Tbilisi Kakha Kaladze has refused his mayoral salary. Tbilisi City Hall’s press office said Kaladze will serve as mayor without using his monthly salary as mayor "for his personal needs.” Instead, he will be donating this money.
The government has two priorities in this strategy: neutralise the results of previously careless environmental management and preserve existing natural resources in a way to ensure that Georgia is perceived as a country with a green economy.