Gov’t to approve draft decree transferring housing to 850 internally displaced families

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Monday said the Government would approve the draft decree transferring residential flats to ownership of 850 internally displaced families.

Garibashvili noted the families displaced as a result of the Russian occupation of the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) would be provided with the flats in capital Tbilisi and the western cities of Zugdidi and Kutaisi.

The head of the Government added that Zurab Azarashvili, the Minister of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Labour, Health and Social Affairs, was also working with construction companies for construction projects designated to be sold through financing.

Until we return our IDPs to Abkhazia and Samachablo [the Tskhinvali region], it is necessary that they have decent living conditions in Tbilisi and other cities”, Garibashvili concluded in his comments.

In July, the Government announced an “unprecedented large-scale programme” for IDPs, revealing 13,000 families would receive housing over the course of the next two years.