Otar Shamugia, the Georgian Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, on Friday said that there were dangers in a certain section of the rock in the Shovi resort in the country’s west, making it “not desirable” to operate any infrastructure there.

The deadly landslide in the Shovi resort last year killed 32 people. The landslide hit cottages and other infrastructure in the resort in the afternoon of August 3.

The final report prepared with the participation of foreign specialists on the natural disaster in Shovi was published on Friday.

“We will have to do more research. This does not mean that all processes there are fully assessed. We have to continue to work in this direction, but today the conclusion we have - prepared with the involvement of highly qualified experts and of course with the participation of our highly qualified specialists - says that there are dangers in a certain section of the rock [in Shovi], which is why it is not desirable to operate any infrastructure in this place”, Shamugia said.

The report also reviewed the landslide that hit the village of Nergeeti in the western municipality of Baghdati in the Imereti region early February, killing 9 persons.

The report said the natural disaster in the village of Nergeeti was caused by abundant rainfall. As for the severe processes developed in the Shovi resort, it turns out that the final conclusion is identical to the initial conclusion, which confirms that there was no waterlogging in the Buba river valley.

The report prepared with the participation of Swiss experts also contains recommendations, noting that with global warming there is a risk of increasing landslide processes, and “that is why new approaches must be developed”.

imedinews.ge