Railway Chief Says Cargo Turnover Down by 35%

Cargo transported through the Georgian railway has declined by 35% starting from this April, 2009, Irakli Ezugbaia, general director of the state-owned Georgian Railway, sad on May 20.

“Despite our statements calling to be cautious about involving Georgian Railway in political processes, recent statements about blocking the railway become frequent; plans about blowing of the railway have also been voiced,” Ezugbaia said. “Transportation companies are very sensitive towards statements of that type. As a result we now witness either reduction of cargo transported [through the Georgian railway] or complete ceasing of transporting cargo on the Georgian direction even by such strong companies like Chevron and Exxon.”

He said that with current reduced cargo turnover, the Georgian Railway will have to cut jobs. “Such a decision will leave 35,000 of our compatriots without revenues,” Ezugbaia said.

Later on the same day the Georgian Railway’s press office explained that those statements about “plans to blow up the railway” were attributed to one of alleged mutineer, Gia Gvaladze, who says in purportedly covertly recorded video footage, released by Interior Ministry on May 5, that the plan involved “closing down the airport and blowing a railway.”

In his recent public speeches, President Saakashvili also mentioned for several times, while speaking about the opposition and internal political developments, the issue of railway. “There are people, who say ‘we should block ports, airports, roads, because we want the chairs’,” Saakashvili said on May 19. “I will do everything in order not to let anyone to ever block roads in Georgia or to block the railway and cause suffering to our people.”

The opposition parties, behind the ongoing protest rallies, announced in early May about the plans to block key east-west highway at various locations; the plan, however, did not include blocking of the railway. The opposition later put off that plan of blocking the highways without implementing it. Only on May 19 the opposition activists blocked for forty minutes a highway, linking Tbilisi with the country’s eastern part, on the section located outside the Interior Ministry’s newly built headquarters.

Prime Minister, Nika Gilauri, said on May 20 that he believed the reduction of turnover was “temporary.” “I believe railway cargo turnover will return back to its initial figures in the nearest future,” he added.

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