Mediator’s concluding report on Namakhvani HPP in Georgia

Today, the Secretariat’s Dispute Resolution and Negotiation Centre published the concluding report on the mediation in a dispute concerning the Namakhvani hydropower plant project in Georgia. Parties to the mediation were the government as well as a number of civil society organizations and local campaigners. The mediation lasted for six months, as scheduled. It resulted in a number of agreements and follow-up actions summarized in the report. At the end of September, the project developer, who chose not to participate in the mediation, had unilaterally terminated the project contract.

“Given the diversity of interests and the lack of trust, the negotiations were complex and covered several layers – the local, the project and the national. Reconciling them was and will be not easy. Yet the mediation showed that there is no better way than dialogue and working together in reconciling sustainability and environmental protection, security of energy supply and investments,” said Deputy Director Dirk Buschle. “We will also help Georgia and its civil society in developing formats for continuing that dialogue beyond the mediation,” added Environmental Expert Aleksandra Bujaroska. Buschle and Bujaroska acted as mediators on behalf of the Dispute Resolution and Negotiation Centre.