Georgia's students to hold rally against HPP construction
By Nazrin Gadimova
Georgian students are going to hold a rally against the construction of Khudoni Hydro Power Plant (HPP) in front of the ministries of energy and culture on October 25.
According to the organizers of the rally, students will protest against the government's policy of continuing the constructing of the giant power plant that endangers the country's ecological system.
Students will express solidarity with the people of Svaneti, who are also against the construction of the Khudoni HPP.
Earlier, Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili said that Khudoni Hydro Power Plant off the shores of Inguri river in the region of Samegrelo - Zemo Svaneti (Western Georgia) has to be built and there is no need to over-dramatize these events.
In early April, the local residents of Svaneti opposed this project after they met with a group of international experts who studied the Khudoni project. According to the local residents, if the hydroelectric power plant is built, ecological disasters will threaten Svaneti.
The Khudoni Hydro project is about 34 km upstream of operational Inguri Arch Dam (1,320 MW) and includes a diversion tunnel, coffer dams, water intake and penstocks, underground powerhouse, tailrace tunnels, and other associated works. Khudoni HPP`s installed capacity is 702 MW, with the annual power generation reaching 1,539 billion KWh. The project envisages building an arch dam with columns at the top with the height of 200.5 meters, and will cost $1.125 billion.
The construction of the Khudoni plant began in the 1990s, but was stopped under the pressures of the national liberation movements and the "green" parties. Later, Mikheil Saakashvili's government made a decision to continue its construction, but the project was suspended again after Georgian Dream coalition came to power.