Gachechiladze: cement factories in Abkhazia will result in ecological catastrophe

The construction of cement factories in Abkhazia, announced this February will have catastrophic consequences for the Abkhazian coastal line. This was reported by Georgiy Gachechiladze, leader of the Green Party of Georgia, to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

We remind you that, according to Peter Kazanba, head of the Department for Geology, Geodesy and Cartography of Abkhazia, a cement factory worth up to 170 million US dollars is planned in the Tkuarchal District.

According to the leader of the Green Party, the first Party's statement on the issue was on extraction of inert materials. "It will have catastrophic consequences for the Abkhazian coastal line, because the rivers which bring these inert materials - pebbles and sand - are balanced. If you break the balance of these streams, severe erosion will follow, and floods," said Mr Gachechiladze.

He gave an example of the Hydraulic Power Plants (HPPs) now built in the territory of Georgia by Turkish companies; they have blocked the streams of inert materials, brought by rivers; and in the territory of Adzharia we now have villages already under water. "There is a village of Adliya near Batumi, which is now flooded; the population was already removed. This problem was created by the deficit of inert materials," the ecologist explained.

According to Georgiy Gachechiladze, according to the agreement on construction of the objects of Sochi Olympiad, they plan to extract inert materials from the river basins and the Black Sea in the territory of Abkhazia. "They'll extract a fantastic amount, if I'm not mistaken, about 50 million cubic meters. This is a direct blow on the territory's recreation and tourist industry of Abkhazia. The Abkhazian population lives in much on incomes from tourism. Thus, the above activities are right against the population," Mr Gachechiladze said to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Another issue of the construction in the Tkuarchal District is the plan to use coal as the power source. "It breaks the UN Convention on Climate Change, because coal used in power generation produces plenty of carbon dioxide. Its emissions are strictly quoted globally because of climate warming. The atmospheric pollution will be catastrophic," Georgiy Gachechiladze explained.

Besides, as the leader of Georgian greens has added, manufacture of cement is always accompanied by emissions of microscopic particles of cement wastes. "We have huge problems in the Caspi District. Near the city of Caspi we have a large cement factory. You can't imagine what happens there! All is white 15 kilometres around the factory," he said.

Besides, Georgian ecologists are recently strengthening their efforts in struggling against the noise related to industrial production. "It is known that when using coal as a power sources they use a technology of crushing coal, which is accompanied by strong noise, depriving people of peaceful sleep some 20-25 kilometres around the facility," Georgiy Gachechiladze has added.

"The issue of building cement factories is linked with construction of Sochi Olympic objects. Huge money and mighty oligarchs are currently in play in the territory of Georgia," Mr Gachechiladze has stated. According to his story, the Party has information that billionaire Oleg Deripaska is involved in it.

In his turn, Roman Dbar, a spokesman of the State Ecological Service of the Government of Abkhazia, said to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that no construction is underway at present, as the prospecting works are not over related to estimation of stock of raw materials, suitable for cement production, availability and accessibility of power resources, etc. According to his story, at present, the resource base for this sort of industry is under study.