Four Workers Die, One Injured in Collapse at Controversial Kvesheti-Kobi Road Project
Four construction workers died and another was hospitalized after a suspected ground collapse during retaining wall work near the village of Tskere on the Kvesheti-Kobi section of the North-South Corridor road project, Georgia’s Roads Department reported on November 23. The workers were citizens of Turkmenistan and China.
“An investigation has been launched into the case,” the agency said, adding that “the Roads Department demands from the contractor company the maximum tightening of compliance with safety standards and the strict observance of regulations during the construction work.”
One injured worker remains in intensive care, a doctor from Tbilisi Central Hospital told journalists. “At this stage, there are no signs of traumatic injury to the head, chest, or abdominal organs.”
The Kvesheti–Kobi highway project began in 2019 and was originally slated for completion in 2023. Funded by the Asian Development Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and supervised by UBM International, the project includes a nine-kilometer tunnel built by the China Railway Tunnel Group, completed in 2024, while other sections are being constructed by the China Railway 23rd Bureau Group.
Georgian Dream government critics, including the CSO Civic Idea, have long warned about the involvement of Chinese companies in strategic infrastructure, citing corruption allegations, safety violations, and environmental and security risks linked to CRTG abroad.
In September, GD Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze visited the construction site, saying the project would be completed “in about a year and a half” and would make travel to Kazbegi safer year-round.
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