Kobi-Gudauri high-speed highway project road for Russia to occupy Tbilisi swiftly - Saakashvili
TBILISI. Aug 14 (Interfax) - Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili who is in Ukraine has criticized the project of the Kobi-Gudauri high-speed highway leading to the Russian border the construction of which Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze has announced this week.
"If the highway is built a military road for Russia to take over Tbilisi rapidly will open," Saakashvili wrote on Facebook on Wednesday.
The construction of this highway meets Russia's interests and "the development of tourism has nothing to do with that," the former Georgian president said.
The construction of the Kobi-Gudauri high-speed highway will begin by the end of this year, Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze said on Tuesday.
"This will be one of the longest highways with a tunnel and one of the most sophisticated engineering facilities in Europe. This certainly requires relevant investment, and this investment has already been attracted and signed," Bakhtadze said at a presentation of the last six months' report of the department of motorways of the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure.
Developing the infrastructure is the most important priority for Georgia and pursues three main goals, he added.
"Firstly, fully use the unique transit and tourism potential of our country; secondly, cut the time on the road and make the traffic more comfortable and safer; thirdly, what is the most important thing, this is an effective method of countering the property. The property is the severest problem for our society," the prime minister said.