Georgia’s Bakuriani and Mitarbi ski resorts undergo major development

Georgia’s iconic ski resort Bakuriani will soon undergo major infrastructure rehabilitation and development to ensure the alpine resort town can cater for the needs of growing tourist numbers.

The new project will be carried out through cooperation of public and private sector and involves rehabilitation of the Bakuriani resort and its neighbouring village, Mitarbi.

The four-season mountain resort concept offers tourists different attractions at all times of the year.

During the development project a new ski lift will be installed on Kokhta Mountain by the end of 2015. Additionally, hotels, hotel-style apartments, apart-hotels, cottages, and food and entertainment facilities catering for up to 500 people will be constructed in the nearby area.

Bakuriani in Winter 2015. Photo by N. Alavidze/Agenda.ge

Furthermore, Mitarbi village will undergo full restoration, as it was currently not operating as a ski resort. Two ski lifts will be built on the Kokhta 2 Mountain and a rope lift will connect Kokhta 2 with Kokhta. This is expected to be complete by the end of 2016. Moreover, tourist-friendly infrastructure for 300 people will also be built.

A Memorandum of Understanding of the project was signed today in Tbilisi by the National State Property Agency, Mountain Resorts Development Company and TBC Group LTD New Mitarbi.

After the signing chairman of the supervisory board of TBC Bank Mamuka Khazaradze said the Bakuriani development plan was the most large-scale project jointly conducted by the Government and the business sector in the past 20 years.

He said the total cost of the project exceeded 100 million GEL and would be completed in two years.

"Ski lifts will be installed by the end of 2015. First drafts have already been made and foreign specialists are working on the arrangement of mountain infrastructure,” he said.

"This will be a fundamentally new world in the development of Georgian tourism. It will be a concept solely based on highest standards, as seen in world leading ski resorts - French Alps, Switzerland, Italy and Austria,” he said.

Khazaradze stressed the project was being implemented through an "unprecedented” partnership between the private and public sector and aimed to develop tourism in Georgia’s mountain regions, which would provide new jobs and promote local small businesses.

The Government of Georgia will spend 48 million GEL financing the construction of the Bakuriani and Mitarbi ski lifts while the Georgian Development and Reconstruction Company will invest an additional 70 million GEL in the real estate section of the project.

Construction works of the ski lifts will be carried out by leading Austrian company Doppelmayr.