Interior Minister highlights implemented, planned infrastructure projects

The implemented and planned infrastructure projects were highlighted by Georgian Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri on Tuesday in his address to the Georgian Parliament, the Ministry of Internal Affairs said.

Gomelauri said last year the Ministry rehabilitated 97 buildings, including 54 ones of the criminal police units and emphasised Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili’s initiative to build a ‘Police City’ as “a very important project”. As he noted, the City would be built in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi and initially, about 1000 police officers would be accommodated.

It is very important for the state to create an appropriate environment for police officers to improve their living conditions, as well as to give them more motivation and encouragement", the Minister said, stressing the salaries of the employees of the Ministry increased by 30 percent in 2022-2023.

He also pointed out that the Ministry made a “significant” renovation of the vehicle fleet in 2022, with 580 vehicles purchased in total to improve the operational efficiency of the units and significantly reduce the response time to incidents.

The re-armament process of the employees actively continued in 2022 and the Patrol Police were equipped with modern standard service weapons for special tasks, the Minister said, adding the agreement had been signed between the Georgian Government and the Airbus Helicopters, a French helicopter manufacturing company, to purchase three new multipurpose H145 helicopters for police, transport, search and rescue purposes, fully equipped with fire fighting and mountain rescue hardware.

The important infrastructure projects carried out in the Service Agency of the Ministry were also emphasised by Gomelauri, including the construction of a new building in Georgia’s southeast city of Rustavi for customs procedures of import, export, and re-export of vehicles.