Bidding on construction of Chumateleti-Khevi road will be announced in the coming days

Bidding on construction of Chumateleti-Khevi road will be announced in the coming days

The Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia introduced a presentation of a large-scale international project on construction of Chumateleti-Khevi section of Rikoti pass road to diplomatic corps, business associations and donor organizations. Bidding on construction of this section will be announced in the coming days. Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure Maya Tskitishvili and First Deputy Minister and Chairman of Roads Department Irakli Karseladze provided invited guests with detailed information. 
The project envisages construction of four-lane road on Chumateleti-Khevi 11.7 km section. In addition, construction of 22 new bridges and 3 tunnels, arrangement of artificial structures, culverts, drainage systems and road safety measures is planned. In sum, construction of up to 51.6 km road is planned on Rikoti pass, which includes 96 bridges and 53 tunnels. Construction of Rikoti pass section is divided into 4 sections: Chumateleti-Khevi section (section I) 11.7 km, Khevi-Ubisa section (section II) 12.2 km, Ubisa-Shorapani section (section III) 13 km and Shorapani-Argveta section (section IV) 14.7 km.
 “Based on established practice, at today’s event, we invited all interested parties in order to inform them about bidding conditions for one of four sections of Rikoti. With the financing of the World Bank and the European Investment Bank, bidding on implementation of construction works is announced, and we hope that the winner company will handle this quite difficult engineering project successfully. In sum, Rikoti project, which is part of East-West connecting highway, will be completed in 2022,” – said Maya Tskitishvili.
Winner companies in the bidding, announced on two another section of Rikoti pass road, will be announced in several days. In parallel, working on development of the borough Surami will be started, which will ensure protection of Surami from chaotic constructions and promote development of tourist potential. “About 3 billion GEL will be spent on the whole Rikoti section. Obviously, after bidding procedures, this amount will be specified. Accordingly, in terms of complexity and volume as well as cost, this is the largest construction, which has been implemented so far. Considering speed limits, the travel time for passing through the East-West corridor from the Red Bridge to Sarpi is about 8 hours. After completion of this project, travel time will be reduced to 4.5 hours. And most importantly, all standards based on road safety and international parameters are protected,” – said Irakli Karseladze.