Former shooting range in Black Sea town of Gonio to be turned into a new city

A 315 hectare former shooting range in western Georgian town of Gonio, south of Batumi, will be turned into a new city 'that will include casinos, offices and banks', Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has announced today.

Garibashvili said that the concept of the project is now being developed by the government, which will be completed by the end of the year.

We have the following vision that a special economic zone with a financial center should be created on the site of the former Gonio polygon. In fact, this project and idea concerns the construction of a new city. We want to involve the best company and organisation [in the project] and a new city should be built in Gonio. We should bring new life to this region", Garibashvili said.

The idea of building a new city on a former military range in Gonio was announced back in 2015 when the Georgian National Investment Agency started searching for investors who would commit to the Gonio development project.

• Investors wanted for Georgia’s Gonio project

The agency previously commissioned the global commercial real estate advisory company Colliers International to conduct a study about Gonio investment potential.