Tbilisi’s Varketili metro station renovation to start this month

The delayed renovation of the Varketili station of Tbilisi Metro will launch this month, with works scheduled for the next year and a half, Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze revealed on Wednesday.

Kaladze said the project, set to start on February 9, would cost city authorities around ₾13.4 million ($5 mln) and involve a complete renovation of the interior and infrastructure of the station.

Photo via Tbilisi City Hall

The existing asbestos ceiling will be dismantled to be replaced with “modern materials”, the Mayor added.

Photo via Tbilisi City Hall

Kaladze also said the station, which first went under renovation in 2016 before an incident in 2018 saw delays in new agreements for the works, would close entirely between June and August to enable safe dismantling of the ceiling.

Photo via Tbilisi City Hall

He pledged the City Hall would add municipal transport routes to Varketili to alleviate complications for passengers stemming from the closure.

The station’s initial renovation was completed in 2017. However, a section of its ceiling collapsed in an incident a year later and injured 14 individuals on the platform.

City authorities sought a new contractor for both repair and renovation works, but cancelled their agreement with another company six months after the signing of the deal last year. The newly announced works will be completed by yet another contractor.

The news on the renovation comes after Kaladze’s announcement in October of a $25 million project to complete the second exit of the Akhmeteli Theatre station and renovate the above-ground infrastructure of 11 stations in the city.