Repair of Varketili metro station stopped

The transport company of the Tbilisi City Hall has decided to stop the repair of the Varketili metro station and is unilaterally terminating the contract with the contractor, the construction company Mamisoni.

At the same time, the Transport Company applied to the purchasing agency with a request to include Mamisoni in the black list.

A letter with an official notice has already been sent to the builders.

“The full project of works was not submitted six months after the conclusion of the contract and 98 days after the issuance of a building permit. To date, a third of the deadline for the completion of the work has expired … based on a reasonable assessment of the circumstances, it becomes clear that you will not be able to complete the contract within the deadline, ”the letter from the Tbilisi Transport Company says.

The document emphasizes that Mamisoni must return the 3.828 million lari listed as an advance payment, the Georgian service of Radio Liberty reports.

The media note that the same Mamisoni company is working on the restoration of the Gotsiridze metro station. Recently, Mayor Kaladze announced that pre-commissioning and inspections are already underway, but it is still unknown when the station will open.

Varketili station is the terminal station on the Akhmeteli-Varketili line. It was opened in 1985. In 2007 and 2017, reconstruction and interior renovation were carried out here, but in 2018, four months after the repair, the ceiling collapsed at the station early in the morning, then 14 people were injured.

Before the collapse, the station was being repaired by Kvarelmsheni LLC. Producers of works – the executive director of Geomepi LLC, as well as the manager and chief engineer of Kvarelmsheni LLC, were prosecuted on charges of negligence, forgery of documents and performance of works that do not meet safety requirements. After the incident, the metro station was not repaired.

The municipality announced a tender for repairs at the beginning of 2022, but it fell through because there were no people willing to overhaul the station for 7.1 million lari.

The mayor’s office announced a second tender in March, almost doubling the amount, which was won by Mamisoni. The contract for 12,760,000 lari was signed in May 2022, 18 months were allotted for the reconstruction.

According to the terms of the tender, the Varketili station should have a granite floor and marble walls. Also, according to the project, a new suspended ceiling and lighting system should be installed in the lower vestibule of the station.

In general, the interior of the metro station should be a modern interpretation of the style of the 60s of the 20th century, using geometric shapes and an unusual combination of colors.