Gov’t launches housing project for asylum seekers

The Government of Georgia will invest 2 million GEL in a project to provide purpose-built housing units for asylum seekers.

The homes will be available by September this year and are intended for 80 asylum seekers who fled their home and country.

"We saw a large number of illegal migrants and the center did not have enough space to house them, so we decided to build housing units in Batumi as well as in Kutaisi," Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Levan Izoria said.

The project was announced on March 6 by Davit Darakhvelidze, the country’s Minister of IDPs from Occupied Territories, Accommodation and Refugees of Georgia.

The centre will be built in Martkopi village, in the Gardabani District and will include 80 units.

Darakhvelidze said American investors would fund construction of the multi-storey buildings.

This decision was made following Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili’s visit to the United States earlier this year.

Building the accommodation block for asylum seekers was part of the second phase of obligations in the Visa Liberalization Action Plan (VLAP).