Tbilisi House of Justice reopens

A Government building has reopened today four months after a storm caused major damage to the building’s roof.

Tbilisi House of Justice reopened for business at 9am this morning.

A reopening ceremony was attended by Justice Ministry officials and the Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure David Narmania.

With the reopening of the building, Georgian citizens will again be able to receive more than 300 services traditionally offered by the House of Justice.

The building was closed for four months while renovations were completed. A heavy storm in early December caused significant damage to the roof and as a precaution, Government employees and citizens were evacuated from the site and forbidden to enter due to safety reasons.

Since December, reconstruction work has been performed on the external and internal parts of the roof.

Experts have checked the remedial work and have stated the building was safe to use.

Deputy Minister of Justice Alexander Baramidze said if experts did not believe the building was safe, daily operations at the House of Justice would not have resumed.

"The reconstruction work took quite a long time. Turns out, it had been built with many flaws. In particular, many details of the roof were not welded, which caused the collapse of the ceiling,” he said.

"Finally [the building] has been repaired and it is very good that people again have the opportunity to use the services of the House of Justice,” Baramidze added.

Narmania told journalists that invited experts discovered the building had many other flaws so more time was need to ensure every defect had been properly examined and repaired.

Asked if anyone will be punished for the defective construction of the building, Deputy Justice Minister Mikheil Sarjveladze said: "So far there is no talk about holding anyone accountable for this”.

The House of Justice will be open daily from 9am until 6pm.