Tbilisi. The Public Defender of Georgia acknowledges the state importance of the development of energy potential and natural resources. However, it is unfortunate that the State has not yet planned a long-term energy policy for the rational use and sustainable development of energy resources, which should be created and implemented in practice as a result of extensive public discussions and on the basis of the principle of transparency, something actively demanded by the Public Defender in recent years. At the same time, the activities that have already been carried out, the investments that are to be made or the cost-effectiveness of the projects have not been studied or analyzed. And the problems with individual hydropower projects are systemic and continuous.

The multi-year oversight by the Public Defender's Office showed that the decisions made by the state agencies over the years have failed to answer the legitimate questions of the society.[11] Distrust towards the quality of examinations conducted and the environmental impact assessment documents, shortcomings in terms of public involvement, neglect of socio-economic interests of the local population, lack of transparency of information and data, and reasonable doubts about the usefulness of the projects remain important challenges. These very problems, despite the fundamentally improved national legislation, have manifested themselves collectively and particularly acutely in relation to the above-mentioned project.

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Source: ombudsman.ge