On 24 April, we posted an article on our blog, discussing the tender for the planting of trees on Baratashvili Street and urging the City Hall to offer an explanation regarding that the contract signed by the Tbilisi City Hall and the Greenservice company.

Yesterday, 9 May, a statement by Tbilisi Mayor Gigi Ugulava was disseminated by the media. According to this statement, the City Hall will cancel the contracts signed with Greenservice and will send the case to the law enforcement agencies for further examination.

The information that we have at present is insufficient for any conclusions regarding the responsibility of any side, although we believe that the actions of all parties involved in the tender need to be examined carefully.

Transparency International Georgia would like to thank the Tbilisi Mayor for his attention to the questions that our organization had asked and for appropriate reaction. We believe that the Tbilisi Mayor’s statement is a very positive step in terms of collaboration between the city authorities and the civil society. At the same time, we hope that this step will become a precedent that will contribute to the establishment of a culture of citizen participation in the government’s activities in the future.

We also welcome the Tbilisi Mayor’s decision to form a special division in the City Hall that will study the market price of the products to be procured and will supervise the procurement process. We believe that the above case highlights the need to improve the work of the bodies responsible for internal control and audit.