Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze spent Wednesday responding to tough questions in parliament regarding the massive Eagle Hills real estate project, presenting it as a benefit for Tbilisi's green spaces, while critics continued to raise concerns about secrecy and political risks.
The debate comes after weeks of controversy around the UAE-linked developer’s plans in Tbilisi’s Krtsanisi forest park and on the Black Sea coast near Gonio, and after several state bodies and public figures weighed in on the deal, The Caspian Post reports citing foreign media.
Speaking under the interpellation procedure, Kobakhidze told MPs that Krtsanisi forest park has been in bad shape since the 1990s and already needed a costly overhaul. City Hall had estimated rehabilitation at about 158 million lari, he said, and under the current agreement that spending will now be covered by Eagle Hills rather than the state budget.
He also tried to calm fears that the project will eat into public greenery or turn parts of the capital into what opponents call an “Arab city”. According to the prime minister, green areas in both Krtsanisi and Gonio will not shrink and should actually grow once the project is completed.
On housing sales, Kobakhidze said about 16,000 apartments are planned across the two Eagle Hills sites. Company founder Mohamed Alabbar has publicly predicted roughly 60 percent of units will go to international buyers, but Kobakhidze told MPs the government expects the share of Georgian buyers to be closer to 80 percent, similar to other big projects in the country.
The government’s push comes as parliament fast-tracks amendments to the Law on Entrepreneurs and the Law on State Property that are directly linked to the Eagle Hills scheme. The changes were registered on 25 November, just one day before Kobakhidze’s appearance in the chamber.
At the same time, practical hurdles have surfaced. On 20 November the National Agency of Public Registry refused a requested change in the registered data of Eagle Hills Georgia and gave the company 30 days to bring its documents in line with Georgian law before trying again.
Under the shareholders’ agreement for the joint venture company, Eagle Hills Georgia’s supervisory board is supposed to include representatives of both the investor and the Georgian state, reflecting the mixed ownership structure.
The mega-project has been subject to strong criticism for the last few weeks. On 7 November lawyer Tazo Datunashvili said the government had deliberately classified its contract with Eagle Hills as a commercial secret, arguing that such secrecy hides “a serious problem” behind the deal. On 11 November Lasha Tugushi, head of the Liberal Academy, said everything about the Arab investment package was “shrouded in fog” and warned that “there is no free dinner” when large sums of money are involved.
Opposition politician Badri Japaridze has also demanded full answers on the terms of the agreement, saying that if questions remain, suspicion will grow that the story is about either incompetence or corruption.
Ruling party officials, for their part, insist the state has secured a good deal. On 10 November deputy economy minister Mariam Kvrivishvili said the government had “put state interests first” in its talks with Eagle Hills, and Tbilisi mayor Kakha Kaladze has publicly dismissed claims that the project includes mosque construction as an outright lie.
