Enhanced infrastructure in Vani municipality facilitates business expansion

A total of 10 kilometres of road rehabilitation works have been carried out in six villages of the Vani municipality to stimulate business development. As a result, it will be easier to move around the villages by road for those businesses who applied to the municipality requesting infrastructural improvements.

Guram Kordzadze, who has been running a goat and sheep farm for six years is one of the entrepreneurs. He says: “Besides us, there are also beekeepers and farmers engaged in cattle breeding up there. The road was an obstacle for everyone and it was extremely difficult for cars to move. When we heard about the Pilot Integrated Regional Development Programme, we were extremely interested,” recalls the farmer, explaining that the village roads were restored with EU financial support. “I like the European approach, and I’m satisfied that the municipality takes into account the needs and initiatives of the population. I believes that similar such projects can only contribute to further business development in the region,” he adds.

It seeing this road rehabilitation that gave impetus to Bachuki Khurtsidze to expand his production. A resident of Dzulukhi village in Vani municipality, Bachuki had wanted to expand his production for a long time but found it impossible to do so due to the absence of a proper road.

“We have bees, goats, cattle and a farm producing Imeretian and Sulguni cheeses. We wanted to expand our small enterprise, however we could not do so because of the absence of the road. If there had been no support from the European Union, it would have been practically impossible to implement such a project,” the entrepreneur says, explaining that now, along with the opportunity to expand his business, he will be able to employ locals which will help the local economy while improving population retention in rural areas.