No to the Oni Cascade

 [We have been mainly focusing on the Namokhvani/Tvishi or "Namakhvani" projects, however, there is more trouble afoot on the Rioni. Just upstream, more dangerous HPPs are planned at Oni. This piece has been translated from the Georgian language source: https://www.radiotavisupleba.ge/a/30527523.html. Original text author: Eka Kevanishvili, April 3, 2020. The original article includes photo and video material.]

In Racha, Oni district, on the Rioni River, an environmental permit for the construction of the "Oni Cascade" hydroelectric power station has been issued.

Facts in brief: Oni Cascade (Oni 1 HPP - 122.46 MW and Oni 2 HPP 83.7 MW) will have a total capacity of 206.1 MW. Each stage of the cascade includes the following main structures:

● Headwater intake facility.

● Diversion-pressure system.

● Power unit (HPP building and substation).

The structure of the HPP will not be a dam, but a cascade of hydropower plants running on the natural flow of the river.

Racha is one of the most dangerous regions of Georgia seismically. In 1991, there was the strongest earthquake (magnitude 7) ever recorded in the Caucasus. Where the HPP is to be built, there are many "torrential" rivers which flood in the springtime, many of which, as hydrologists point out, are not fully described scientifically. Part of the Rioni River must be turned into a tunnel.

These are just a few details that opponents of building a hydropower plant in Oni cite as an example of why a solid "no" should be said to the Oni cascade.

In this article, Radio Liberty offers three arguments against building the Oni HPP.

* * *

"Reincarnation of the idea that emerged during the communist era" is what Dato Chipashvili, a representative of the Green Alternative, an environmental organization that has been working on the issue of hydropower plants for a long time, calls the Oni Cascade.

Dato tells us that in Oni, the idea of ​​building a hydroelectric power plant did not appear today or yesterday. This idea originated in the Soviet period and is a story of that time. But during the process it turned out that the HPP had to be built elsewhere, higher up, a reservoir had to be arranged -- there was talk of flooding the village of Chiora, and so on.

Then the project stopped. Perhaps one of the reasons for this was the 1991 Racha earthquake.

Dato Chipashvili thinks that no one can escape the fact that Racha, from a seismic point of view, is still a dangerous area, regardless of how water in the region is managed today. Moreover, he says, the tunnel into which the Rioni River would have to run for several kilometers, would run through specific villages in landslide-prone areas, and have to pass along floodplain riverbeds.

"With this project, it is planned to build 2 tunnels. There is the Oni 1 HPP tunnel - 12.5 km long and the second, Oni 2, is approximately 9.5 m long, a little below, above the village of Sori. In these areas, including the village of Utsera, the Rioni River, as people see it today, will no longer exist. Just 2.5 cubic meters of water per second will remain, a small trickle." Considering the size of the Rioni riverbed, whether this water will appear there at all is still a question," said Dato Chipashvili.

What role does Rioni play for the local population right now? Here is one example.

At the place where water would vanish from, from the Rioni River catchment point to the discharge point, about 10 "torrential" rivers flow. The mass of sediments and debris brought by these rivers is currently washed away by the Rioni. The danger that over time might have been created for these villages by the accumulation of this rubble is being regulated by the Rioni.

Dato Chipashvili says that the environmental impact report says that if, for example, the flooded Mushuani River brings debris, they will be able to open the gates on the dam above and release the Rioni for two or three days, which will wash away the accumulated debris. But this statement, in the opinion of the environmentalist, is not based on any research.

According to him, a second issue is that no one knows exactly when a strong earthquake may happen again in Racha, as well as whether the tunnel in which Rioni is being planned to be built will be able to withstand such an earthquake. There is also no answer to the question of what will happen if landslides are caused as a result of the earthquake:

"I do not know of any country where a hydroelectric power plant was built in such a seismically zone. I also do not know of any example of a hydropower plant being built on "torrential" rivers, as happened in Mestiachala in Svaneti," said Chipashvili.

More detailed remarks and questions are given here [http://greenalt.org/publications/cagerisa_da_onshi_hesebi/] in the study of the Oni HPP cascade's environmental impact assessment and the scoping reports of the Namakhvani HPP cascade by representatives of Green Alternative and the Georgian Young Lawyers Association.

* * *

Tea Godoladze, director of the Institute of Earth Sciences and the National Center for Seismic Monitoring, was also approached by the Oni Cascade initiative group to study the issue, and made an official response stating that the EIA does not assess seismic risks in the construction area. Quote:

"Specific work is always to be carried out for seismic hazard assessment for such buildings and different levels of seismic hazard are determined (the so-called maximum possible earthquake, working-level earthquake, etc.) in current international practice and recommendations on seismic hazard assessment of hydraulic structures. It should be noted that for seismic hazard assessment it is important to determine the ground category of the area, which is done through seismic profiling. The report states that such works have been carried out, but no actual results have been provided."

Radio Liberty asked Tea Godoladze why she opposes "Oni Cascade".

She told us that the study of seismic loads attached to the EIA has quite a few shortcomings. She distinguishes two specific risks and told us that, most importantly, "the [seismic] catalog on which this research is based is not good and correct. And they also do not have an accurate map of the active faults, or the data, where earthquakes have taken place."

Tea Godoladze also explained that Racha is currently the most active segment of the well-known Gagra-Java disintegration fault. Which, in her words, means that earthquakes are happening there and will happen for a good long time.

"Let's not forget that we had here one of the biggest earthquakes recorded in the Caucasus - a magnitude seven. And companies that build hydropower plants, as a rule, design for low seismicity," stated Godoladze.

Addition, hydrology is a very poorly studied field in Georgia, according to Godoladze.

"We have not seen a single report that accurately calculates water usage counting times when rivers are in extreme situations. Do you know what is meant here? For example, the Vere River [in Tbilisi] is calm today, but we have seen what it can turn into [in the 2015 floods] and such can happen as often as every 30 years. We do not know what might happen with the floodwaters in Racha. Essentially, it turns out that we would be going in to do something blind."

* * *

In addition to some environmental organizations, the civil movement "No to Oni Cascade" is opposed to the construction of a hydropower plant in Racha today. This is a movement which unites people who are concerned about the fate of Racha and have been following the developments there from the very first day.

Rati Metreveli is one of them. And he opposes the Oni Cascade primarily because no thorough research has been conducted there.

"Our movement has contacted seismologists and hydrologists, and there are specific answers to our questions about why the river can't be taken away from the valley. We already have seen the example of the Shuakhevi HPP, how construction started without research and how that process ended [in disaster]. The builder of the Oni Cascade will probably, with ordinary carelessness, begin to argue that the research is valid and thorough, including the seismic studies; however, our movement believes that this seismic survey is erroneous and incorrect."

Rati Metreveli also questioned the validity of Gamma Consulting's environmental impact reports and says that there are many questions about how honestly this organization does such work (this organization has completed the Shuakhevi HPP project EIA [as well as the one for Namakhvani HPP!]).

Additionally, Metreveli stated that "Oni Cascade One is actually implemented in the area of the Utsera resort. The disappearance of the Rioni river in the resort area should be alarming not only for the Utsera community, but for the whole country. It is often said that the project is being implemented for 21 kilometers. Yes, that's the stated plan, but in reality the riverbed will go for 36-37 kilometers without a river. I do not need to emphasize that the project is implemented in a seismically unstable place, but will just point out that this fact is even written in the Racha-Lechkhumi-Kvemo Svaneti development strategy, adopted during the Prime Ministership of Bidzina Ivanishvili and bearing his own signature, where it is stated that large projects are not advisable due to seismic instability."

On the other hand, announcements about the benefits of building a hydropower plant, that it will create jobs on the ground, strengthen the population in rural areas, that electricity will become free, Rati Metreveli described as simply populist statements, saying that this is "just the shiny paper with which this harmful project is wrapped".

"In order to support a population living in the countryside, the people themselves are needed. As our villages are already nearly empty, I think rather that the community of Utsera would simply cease to exist with the Rioni," Rati Metreveli told RFE / RL.

The construction of a power plant in Oni, obviously, has supporters as well - first and foremost in the form of the government and the Ministry of Economy. The arguments of the proponents of the Oni Cascade, not only of the construction company, but also of their fellow energy professionals and other specialists who, as the Ministry of Environment tells us, were actively involved in the discussion process, will be discussed in following publications of Radio Liberty.

The Ministry of Environment Protection, which has already issued an environmental permit for Oni Cascade, stated that it was satisfied with the studies submitted by JSC Oni Cascade.

 

Details of Namakhvani Dam Cascade Tender are Confidential

 Article from 2017 via ifact.ge

The criteria for the selection of the best investor to build, operate and own Namakhvani Dams cascade in Georgia is confidential.  The investment letter from the winner, as well as from other tender participants’ offers, also remain confidential.

On January 25, the  Energy Development Fund of Georgia declared on their website that the winner chosen to invest in one of the largest dam project in Georgia was Norwegian “CLEAN ENERGY GROUP GEORGIA“ LLC.

According to the fund, three companies took part in the so-called “expression of interest”:  “General Development LTD”, ”POWER CHINA RESOURCES LTD” and ”CLEAN ENERGY GROUP GEORGIA LLC”.

The Energy Development Fund told “iFact” that the criteria to select the winner, other potential investors’ letters, and the names of the committee members who selected the winner, will all remain confidential.  

The Namakhvani Dam Cascade will be erected on the Rioni River in western Georgia.  According to the fund, the project is supposed to generate 1,514 gigawatts of energy annually.

The winner was selected by a committee which was created under the auspices of the Energy Development Fund of Georgia. Fund director Levan Mosakhlishvili said the committee is not permanent and was created specifically for this Namakhvani project.

Mosakhlishvili would not share with “iFact” the names of the committee members, saying this would be revealing “private information”.  He did say directors of the fund were member of this committee.    

Concerning the legal status of the fund – a Joint Stock Company – Mosakhlishvili said it was not legally obliged to disclose information that otherwise would be considered public.  He said the fund was not a public entity and could choose which information to disclose; he insisted the Georgian Administrative Code for Disclosing the Public Information was not relevant in this case.   

“I understand the high public interest, though” he said.  

On January 27, two days after the winner was declared, “iFact” requested details about the process, including the investment letters of the three companies, the names of the committee members, and the criteria for choosing the winner.

To these questions the fund answered only that the committee was not permanent. Other answers would qualify as ‘confidential,’ the fund wrote in a letter.  

Mosakhlishvili did not clarify the reason of keeping this information confidential.   

The Joint Stock company Energy Development Fund of Georgia was created in December 13, 2010.  It is 100% owned by the government of Georgia.

Clean Energy Group AS

“CLEAN ENERGY GROUP GEORGIA LLC” is the daughter company of the Norwegian Clean Energy Group AS.  For this company Namakhvani HPP is the second and larger in size than a project in Adjara on the Adjaristskali River.   

On January 27, Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili met  Adjaristskali hydropower plant investors.  In news disseminated by the prime minister’s office, there was no mention of the Namakhvani project.  By that time, Clean Energy Group AS had already won the project.  

Bjorn Brandtzaeg: at left ,close to the flag
Photo: gov.ge

Company representative   Bjorn Brandtzaeg, also attended the meeting with the prime minister. Brandtzaeg used to be the advisor to the Minister of Energy in 2008, hired by Econ Poyry, an international consulting firm..

In 2010, when Clean Energy Group AS won the Adjaristskali Georgia  dam project, Brandtzaeg left the consultancy position and moved to the investor company.

In 2011, Brandtzaeg became the director of the “Adjaristskali Georgia”; in 2014, he became a minor shareholder of the Clean Energy Group AS. According to the  2014 financial report of Clean Energy Group AS,  Brandtzaeg owned 2,1 percent of the shares.

 

 This article has been translated from the original Georgian, written by David Adeishvili and found at https://www.sustainability.ge/namakhvani.

Namakhvani Cascade - a totally unsustainable project

Political economy assessment

Facts and Figures : The total planned capacity of the two Namakhvani Cascade HPPs (at Namokhvani and Tvishi) is 433 MW, with an estimated output of 1.6 billion kWh.

The top surface of the reservoirs is planned to be 100 + 510 = 610 ha, comprising a territory 30 km long and approximately 200 meters wide. For comparison, think of a strip of width of two football fields from Tbilisi to Rustavi. The height of the dams will be 60 and 105 meters.

It is not known exactly, however, how many hectares of land in total will be submerged and become unusable by the damming process - according to some data, it will be more than 1000 hectares. This area will include agricultural lands, forests, 19 cultural heritage sites, and 13 archeological sites. 7 settlements will be affected, of which 3 will be totally submerged. 104 families will be resettled.

Endangered species of sturgeon and the unique Tvishi viticulture microzone - both protected by international conventions - are at risk.

4 seasonal power plants have already been installed on the Rioni, including the 4 stations of the Vartsikhe diversion cascade. Now, in addition to this, the Oni and Namakhvani cascades are planned, which means that a power plant will be located on average every 15 kilometers along the river in the section from Glola to Samtredia, including all dams and diversion pipes. This is expected to create an excess of cumulative negative effects on the environment of the Rioni Valley.

The Namakhvani project was rejected in the 1980s.

In 2019, Georgia consumed a total of 12,767 million kWh, of which 12.7% was imported and 75% of the production was generated by hydropower plants (Source: Esco.ge).

Violations and Transparency: The company Enka Renewables, in agreement with the government, has begun preparatory construction work on the HPP project without a final EIA decision or the necessary information and research. The court did not consider the lawsuit filed by the non-governmental organization "Green Alternative". Hence many questions remain unanswered.

Ignoring and suppressing protests: For more than a month, locals have been carrying out a continuous occupation and protest, day and night, against the construction. They have been disrupted and dispersed by the police; the government refuses to meet them and has no communication with the general public about this project.

Energy Myths:

1. "Georgia has untapped surplus hydro resources." If we evaluate these "resources" in terms of basin management and sustainable development, it turns out that the size of water resources is minimal and mainly suitable for small hydropower plants.

2. "Georgia needs energy independence." If we are talking about self-sufficiency in electricity, then we already today have achieved 90% of this, which can not be said about any other consumer product in Georgia. Achieving this “goal” would be much more inefficient and costly than attempting to address, for example, issues of self-sufficiency in wheat, oil, or meat.

3. "Hydropower is cheap." In fact, this energy is very expensive, if we take into account all the economic consequences and the negative externalities (non-monetized associated costs) which we will need to internalize.

4. "There will be a shortage of electricity." The demand for electricity  in Georgia is growing directly proportionally to GDP growth, but at a much slower pace. The demand for new generation will be less than expected in the future if we take into account the considerable potential for reducing the intensity of electricity consumption in Georgia (increasing energy efficiency) and the opportunities for diversified imports on a seasonal basis. In the coming years, GDP decline and lower growth rates are expected in Georgia. This gives us a chance to reorganize the electricity sector, including the consideration of alternative sources and system modernization.

A priori evaluation of the project: International practice confirms the instability of large hydropower plants - their economic, social, ecological and technical (geological, seismic, and hydrological) dubious nature.

Large hydropower plants are a thing of the past in the world of development. Not only are large hydropower plants no longer being built in Western Europe and North America, they are even being selectively dismantled to restore the damaged environment.

Cost-benefit analysis: The cost-benefit analysis method has not been used to economically evaluate an investment project of this magnitude (more than $700 million), which would shed light on many questions and make decisions easier.

For example, no one is counting on what revenue will be lost from the export potential Tvishi viticulture and winemaking, as well as losses from the tourism perspective. The ecological and socio-cultural damage caused to the country by the implementation of the project has not been assessed.

On the other hand, a maximum of 1600 million kWh of electricity per year is at stake for the state. For comparison, in 2019, about the same amount was imported - 1626 million kWh of electricity, the value of which amounted to 67.3 million USD (0.9% of total imports of Georgia). For comparison, more than this amount - 67.4 million USD was paid to Georgia in 2018 only for the import of poultry meat, the replacement of which with local production would not be a big problem.

Political conclusion: What is happening is the exploitation and destruction of Georgia's common natural "green capital" and socio-cultural environment by foreign financial capital and local private interests, in conjunction with the negligence and support of a corrupt bureaucracy and the bribery and manipulation of a part of the local poor population.

Solution: Stop the project! Develop an energy strategy based on the principles of sustainable development and pursue appropriate policies.

Emphasis should be placed on wind and solar energy sources, energy efficiency, market decentralization, and the regulation, rehabilitation, and modernization of the generating systems. Temporarily (in the medium term) it is possible to start new capacities of thermal power plants.

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Sources used

Esco.ge. (nd). Georgia Electricity Balance 2019 . Electricity Market Operator. https://esco.ge/files/data/Balance/energobalans_2019_geo.pdf

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Statement of the Georgian Sommelier Association

 

Statement of the Georgian Sommelier Association regarding the possible threat to Tvishi Wine as a result of the construction of Namakhvani HPP

 

The Georgian Sommelier Association (member of the Association de la Sommellerie Internationale, A.S.I.), as an organization interested in the development and promotion of Georgian viticulture and winemaking, confirms the great importance in Georgian winemaking of the appellation of origin "Tvishi".

 

We believe that this important Georgian appellation may be threatened by a possible change in the microclimate caused by the construction of the Namakhvani HPP.

 

We welcome any new business project focused on the economic development of the country, including the increase of security and independence of the energy sector.

 

We cannot address geological and hydrological safety issues beyond our competence. At the same time, we naturally sympathize with and support the locals, who for centuries have been living in the areas which have been designated for the construction of power plant infrastructure. If construction is carried out, they will have to leave their native places forever.

 

The Georgian Sommelier Association demands that the research related to the Tvishi microzone be made public and that the Georgian society, including the representatives of the viticulture and winemaking sector, be fully informed about the possible results on the basis of its findings.

 

Representatives of the field, as well as the Georgian society, have a full and legitimate right to know what changes in the Tvishi microclimate are expected as a result of the construction of a hydropower plant complex, as well as what impact will it have on the Tvishi appellation, one of the most distinctive and unique in the country, and on local viticulture and the quality of the wine made from the grapes grown here.

 

Shalva Khetsuriani

President of the Georgian Sommelier Association

Founder of "Marani Khetsuriani"

 

Hiking the Rioni; Existing Dams on Rioni

 

From my hiking trip along the Rioni Valley in 2019. At that time, I didn't know that all this was set to disappear in a few short years. It's a bit past the weather for good hiking, but I'm contemplating a sea-to-source hike of the Rioni for 2021. Sadly, we may be the last generation to see the wild Rioni rage as it did in the time of Medea and the Argonauts, as it did when Prometheus was chained to Khvamli Mountain and stared down at it day and night. I would like to experience this mighty being before it is assassinated by corporate and political greed. If this idea goes ahead, you will surely hear about it here.

The Rioni currently has three dams built on it: at Gumati (just above Kutaisi), Kutaisi, and Vartsikhe (just below Kutaisi). None of these have impacted the course of the river to all that great of an extent; they don't include large reservoirs or very high walls. The Vartsikhe project diverts a major part of the flow of the Rioni into a long canal, dropping the water down a series of weirs until a point just south of Samtredia. This dam has been blamed for affecting fish populations in the Rioni, but the impact has apparently been of a manageable and mitigable size.

Some people say that dams are simply necessary for energy production and the ecology must simply take its lumps as it may. I certainly don't oppose hydropower in all forms. I believe that it's possible, even on such a mighty river as Rioni, to construct ecologically responsible hydropower plants. To me, it's very clear that the "Namakhvani" and Tvishi Dams, as well as four (!!) dams planned above Oni, are anything but ecologically responsible. Some couple of people are about to make a bucket of money off of the backs of Georgian ecological and cultural heritage, the indigenous inhabitants of the Rioni Valley, and the ecological well-being of future generations.

 

 

Statement by Merab Gongadze, Senior Scientist at the TSU Vakhushti Bagrationi Institute of Geography, Department of Geomorphology

"The pattern [seen in the video] below is very similar to the Rioni gorge with Namakhvani. There is limestone on both sides. The Rioni-Tskhenistskali watershed is only about 20 km wide, and in a straight line 15-17 km from Namakhvani, the limestone-karst massif of Tskaltubo extends across the watershed to the famous caves of Kumistavi (Prometheus), Kvilishori, Satsurblia, Bgheri, and so on. It is possible that leaking water from the reservoir will rapidly create passageways to these karst caves (if these canals do already not exist), in which case it will be almost impossible to keep the required amount of water in the reservoir. It should also be noted that the huge mass of water created by the 100 m dam will immeasurably increase the pressures on the walls of the reservoir and its outflow into the cracks will rapidly increase.

Because of this project, we were interviewed several times in 2010 at the Institute of Geography, in particular in the Department of Geomorphology, where a karsto-speleological laboratory operates. Representatives of the project organization were very interested in our conclusion about the cracking of the limestone walls of the future reservoir. They were obviously demanding a positive conclusion from us that there would be no catastrophic leakage of water from the reservoir. We developed a project that included several months of field research by staff from the Institute of Geomorphologists, karstologists, and the Institute of Geophysics in the Tvishi-Namakhvani section of the Rioni Valley. They asked us several times to conduct this project, but afterwards would vanish without a trace.

Finally, Kukuri Tsikarishvili and I were summoned to the State Oil and Gas Corporation (we still do not understand what they had to do with this project) and we were asked in detail what we thought about the HPP project. Of course, we stated that thorough field research is necessary and a conclusion should only be made after that. However, we also did not hide the fact that after analyzing the available data during the preliminary research work, the conclusion was likely to be negative [showing the project to be geologically infeasible]. After that, no one called us at all.

Later, we found out from other sources that they brought Italian specialists and together with the local specialists created a 600-page report, which provided general geographical information about this section of the valley, an individual hydrological data of this section of the Rioni Valley, biodiversity of the area (flora, ichthyofauna, etc.) How much did this account cost, I just do not want to mention this figure here, since I am not certain about its reality. I do not know exactly, but it is possible that on the basis of this report the authors of the Namakhavani project intend to prove its suitability, although as far as sharing it, they have not shown it to anyone.

Besides the issue to the water leaks, the slopes of the Rioni Valley in this area are covered with deluvial deposits, which are more conducive to landslide movements in the Rioni Valley than the thin layer of clay found later in Italy. The fact is that these deluvial deposits in the upper part of the limestone slopes are to this day active in the processes of depletion and denudation (spatial washing). Exhausted rocks are exposed to gravity and surface water in the middle and lower parts of the slope, gradually thickening and over time becoming covered with soil and vegetation. The eye of a non-specialist can not distinguish them from the limestone slope. The river gradually washes away the base of these deluvial deposits and removes their support. Eventually, the movement of this mass begins towards the river bed, and a landslide develops.

Now imagine a rising water level after the creation of the dam, which begins the process of the washing of the slopes and, consequently, the development of landslides. Our late colleague, Karlo Liponava, worked on the coastal processes of Georgian reservoirs in the 70s and 80s of the last century, and I also conducted field research with him in this direction, as I worked on human impact on topographical relief and particularly on the development of modern exodynamic processes. Thus, I am aware of the mechanism of possible development of these coastal processes.

It should also be noted that the characteristics of the movements and levels of underground water should be taken into account, as their outputs are likely to be covered after the water level rises. This poses another separate hydrogeological problem in the reservoir area, with more or less predictable consequences. Not to mention the active seismicity of the region, the changing microclimate and biodiversity changes in the valley, starting with ichthyofauna, ending with unique vine and fruit varieties.

Finally, I would like to address those who, without any reason, advocate the construction of such large hydropower plants in any populated area. I advise them to go to Pankisi gorge, at the head of the Alazani, to visit the 25-megawatt Khadorhesi, designed by the Chinese and built by the Georgians on the principle of the traditional Georgian mill, without the dam and reservoir. Similar stations can be built there, on the left tributaries of the Alazani, which have the necessary slope, as well as on many rivers on the southern slope of the Caucasus and the northern slope of Adjara-Trialeti. However, in my deepest belief, the purpose of the project authors revolves purely around the goal of making big money and evicting the local population. We need to wake up everyone and take active action against these parasites!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtGsHfZ1tS8

OpenDemocracy: Detailed Overview

 This article, published in June, before the establishment of the permanent protest camp, has a lot of useful information about the hazards and questions behind the Namokhvani-Tvishi dam project. Check it out!

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/unsustainable-transition-hydropower-and-post-covid-recovery-georgia/

'

 Pictured: The Rioni near the village of Derchi and its eternal guardian, the legendary Mount Khvamli.

GYLA: Public Discussions Concerning Namokhvani Dam Were Not Adequately Carried Out

 According to the Georgian Young Lawyers Association, the public discussions for the construction of Namokhvani Dam were carried out illegally and in an inadequate manner. Locals also claim that they were prevented from accessing meeting sites. Read more at the following link (English): 

https://gyla.ge/en/post/print/ganckhadeba-namakhvanis-hesebis-kaskadis-proeqtis-sajaro-gankhilvis-kanondarghvevebit-chatarebis-shesakheb

Ecolur: Effects of "Namakhvani" Dam Project on Lechkhumian Villages

 Published in 2019, an interesting and detailed article describing some of the consequences that will be faced by local residents upon completion of the Namokhvani ("Namakhvani") dam. Check it out!

https://www.ecolur.org/en/news/energy/spirit-of-namakhvani-hpp-cascade-doesnt-allow-villages-in-georgias-lechkhumi-region-to-develop/11379/ 

Image credit to Ecolur.org.

Namokhvani or Namakhvani?

 Two spellings are used in reference to the Namokhvani Dam project: Namokhvani and Namakhvani. Which one is correct?

The village in Imereti where the dam is being built is and has always been called: Namokhvani.

However, as this project was originally conceived when Georgia was part of the Soviet Union, a Russianized pronunciation came to be used among outsiders who sought to wall off this section of the Rioni: Namakhvani.

Therefore, in all official and corporate documents, you will see the use of the name "Namakhvani" when referring to the dam. The builders of the dam are so disconnected from local issues that they even refer to the dam which they plan to build at Tvishi - a full 20 kilometers upstream - as the "Upper Namakhvani Dam". In contrast, protesters from the local area tend to refer to the projects by the names of the local areas: Namokhvani Dam and Tvishi Dam.

This blog will prefer the term "Namokhvani" in solidarity with local villagers, who we believe have more right to the name of an area, and the valley of their ancestral homes, than a foreign company who has gone and bought it out from under them without their consent.

Pictured: The place in Namokhvani where the dam is planned to be built.

OC Media Article: Good Overview of Local Protests in English

 While we work on bringing Georgian language material into English, there was a nice report published yesterday in OC Media, describing the ongoing protests by local villagers at the ENKA company local headquarters in Zhoneti. Check it out! https://oc-media.org/activists-paralyse-dam-construction-in-northwest-georgia/

Welcome

Greetings to all. This page is an attempt to collect English language information about the Namokhvani, Tvishi, and Oni dam projects planned on the Rioni River. Locals of the Rioni valley are currently engaged in widespread protest against the $800 million project which threatens to destroy their homes and livelihoods and irrevocably damage the ecology of the Lechkhumi, Racha, and Imereti regions. Please like or follow this page to learn more about this beautiful, fertile land which is planned to disappear beneath giant reservoirs, and to hear the latest information just as soon as we can hear about and translate it. If you are a Georgian speaker and have information you can share with us, please get in contact.

Pictured: The site where the Namokhvani dam is intended to be built. The Turkish company ENKA, contracted to construct, operate, and own the dam, was working illegally at this site until local protests forced them to halt construction in October 2020.