Property Georgia interviewed Roma Bedoshvili, Head of Project and Building Consultancy Department, Colliers International Georgia.
- New constructions are being intensively implemented in the cities of Tbilisi and Batumi. Does the construction and development sector manage to maintain safety norms?
Increase of intensity of constructions in Georgia is directly related to the expansion of the area in which the safe environment should be provided. Part of the companies in the construction and development sectors are trying to ensure the safety of the labor requirements with the least expenditure that does contribute to the desired results. However, it should be also noted that there are companies in the market that provide high standards of safety norms.
- What is the actual situation in terms of regulations regarding safety norms?
The principal regulatory authority (state) gradually revokes the legislative framework that is concerned with the safety requirements. At this stage we are still progressing to get closer to the international requirements.
- Who is the security control currently implemented by? Should the state interfere in this direction?
The supervision of the safety norms in Tbilisi is conducted by the City Hall Supervision Service and the Department of Health Supervision in the Ministry of Health. Effective involvement of the state as a legislator and a regulator is one of the most important factors in improving the labor safety.
- According to the Association Agreement with the EU it is mandatory for Georgia to carry out the construction products regulation directive. This demand shall have been fully satisfied by 2024. The directive relates to the safety of construction. What has been done in this direction and what specific steps will be taken in this regard in the nearest future?
According to the Association Agreement with the European Union, the new Labor Code is to be approved by 2024 by the state (Parliament).
- Since it will increase the expenses and make the procedures even more complicated, is the local construction and development market ready for new regulations?
The new regulation itself implies an improved situation where no one will be negatively affected. In the future, not only the financial but also the work embarked by the specialists with the knowledge of labor safety will contribute to significant results in the construction field, which is important for the new stage of the development.
- As one of the largest consulting companies in the real estate sector, what experiences and recommendations can Colliers International Georgia share with builders and developers in terms of improving the safety norms?
Project and Building Consultancy is one of the important directions for our company. This constitutes control of the safety norms of construction in its turn. First of all, there is a law that requires the construction company to comply with the construction and the safety norms. In addition, international practices that should be taken into consideration should be noted as well.
Colliers International Georgia regularly offers a wide range of services related to construction. Among them are: construction projects management, supervision, preparation of documentation required for supplementary or intermediate reports, research and construction projects. In this direction, the company has managed and supervised over 10 major construction projects with about 600 000 000 GEL of investment value for up to 300 000 sq.m of land plots in recent years.
