The new airport, "Russian law," and written-off debts: pre-election promises by the Prime Minister of Georgia
PM’s pre-election promises in Georgia
Several months before the parliamentary elections scheduled for October 2024, the Georgian government intends to fully write off a tax debt of 590 million lari [approximately $220 mln] for 145,000 individuals.
They also plan to initiate additional flights to Germany for the European Football Championship.
And, according to the new Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, a new airport will be built in the village of Vaziani near Tbilisi.
Kobakhidze also mentioned the controversial draft law on foreign agents, dubbed the “Russian law” by the public, stating that despite its failure last year, the authorities are determined to pass it this time.
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What exactly did the Prime Minister say?
Regarding the law on foreign agents
“Of course, there is no alternative to transparency in a democratic society. No one can explain why transparency could be bad. The bill is right from start to finish. All it requires is annual financial disclosure from non-governmental organizations and media.
Yet they try to argue that transparency is Russian, while opacity is European.
Last year, they managed to mislead a significant portion of society, turning values upside down. However, I am confident they won’t succeed a second time.“
Regarding additional flights to Germany
“As you know, starting from June 18th, the Georgian national team will begin playing matches in the European Championship. The demand for airline tickets is very high, which airlines have already taken advantage of.
It’s the law of economics: demand determines supply. Consequently, airfare prices have increased – in some cases, even several times over.
I would like to ask the Ministry of Economy to start working on providing additional direct flights to Düsseldorf and Hamburg. It’s important to offer our citizens tickets at a fixed low price.”
Regarding debt forgiveness
“Tax debts totaling 590 million lari will be completely written off for 145,000 individuals. In Georgia, there is a significant number of individuals burdened with tax debt, which prevents them from engaging in economic activities. Therefore, we have decided to write off these debts.
Specifically, all individuals, including sole entrepreneurs, will have their recognized tax debts completely written off if they arose and were unpaid before January 1, 2021, including the taxes accrued on them.
As a result, 145,000 of our citizens will have the opportunity to actively participate in the country’s economic life, which, naturally, will contribute to economic development.“
This is not the first instance of debt forgiveness ahead of elections. In 2018, on the eve of the presidential elections, the then-Prime Minister announced a new government initiative, stating that loans would be written off for 600,000 people listed in the so-called banking ‘blacklist.’
Regarding the new airport
“In a few years, we will have an ultra-modern international airport. Yesterday, during the economic council meeting, we made a crucial decision regarding the implementation of this mega-project.
The current airport’s capacity is approximately 4-4.5 million passengers. As you know, we have a very positive trend in the tourism sector, and we anticipate rapid and consistent growth in the number of visitors in the future, which must be supported by infrastructure.
We discussed two alternative options, one involving the expansion of the existing airport and the other involving the construction of a new airport in Vaziani.
The expansion would cost approximately $900 million, while building a new one would cost around $1.26 billion.
Expansion would allow for a maximum passenger flow of up to 15 million passengers with no further development prospects. Building a new airport, on the other hand, would increase passenger flow to 19 million with the potential for further expansion.
Considering several factors, we ultimately decided to proceed with the construction of a new airport.”
Actually, the first announcement about the construction of the Vaziani airport was made a year ago by the then-Prime Minister, Irakli Garibashvili. According to him, the government aims for Georgia to become the “aviation hub of the region,” and it was for this purpose that the territory of the Vaziani military airfield was chosen for the construction of the new airport.
