Kutaisi parliament building to be handed over to Interior Ministry

The Georgian Interior Ministry has confirmed today they will receive control of the Kutaisi parliament building when parliament approves the full transition of legislative activities from Kutaisi to Tbilisi. Parliament is likely to discuss the bill today. 

The Interior Ministry says that they will house the 112 emergency service, the patrol police unified service centre, the regional centre of the Interior Ministry Academy and its service agency in the Kutaisi parliament building. 

As of today we only have the patrol police unified service centre in Tbilisi, providing about 50 police services at the scene. We plan to open the same centre in Kutaisi,” Deputy Interior Minister Nino Javakhadze said. 

She stated that the opening of the Interior Ministry Academy branch in Kutaisi will make it possible to train staff from western Georgia there.

She said that the academies both in Tbilisi and Kutaisi will also serve the aim of retraining the Interior Ministry staff.

Javakhadze said that local people will be employed in the Kutaisi regional centre of the Interior Ministry. 

The parliament building in Kutaisi was the initiative of former President Mikheil Saakashvili. 

Kutaisi parliament was opened in May 2012 and after several months, in October of the same year, the current ruling Georgian Dream defeated the nine-year rule of the United National Movement. 

Many in the Georgian Dream party have stated that the location of the parliament in Kutaisi is inconvenient. 

In 2014 holding of parliament committee meetings was allowed in the historic parliament building of Tbilisi.

More than 340 million GEL was spent on the construction of the Kutaisi parliament. 

The previous state leadership claimed that the relocation of the parliament from Tbilisi to Kutaisi would help regional development and decentralisation.