Namakhvani’s Doom

The idea of construction of a hydroelectric power plant in Namakhvani first appeared during the communist era, in 1969. The Ministry of Energy of the Soviet Union was going to build a giant HPP with an arch dam near the village of Namokhvani. The height of the dam was supposed to be 161 meters and the capacity - 500 MW. The project was finally approved in 1985. Since that time, the population of Lechkhumi villages has been in complete obscurity.

Maka Suladze, a resident of Mekvena village, is 53 years old. The house in which she lives now was built in the year of her birth.

‘’Even then, they told my father, why build this house when the Namakhvani dam is going to be built, what are you hoping for?’’ Maka recalls, however, the beginning of the national movement in Georgia and the collapse of the Soviet Union postponed the construction for a long time.

In 2008, the Georgian government decided to revive the projects initiated during the Soviet period. One of them was the Namakhvani dam.

Maka says that from that day hell began for her and her family. The population fell into a state of uncertainty again. They did not know if they would be able to continue living in their own land. The project published by the Turkish-Korean consortium in 2011, unlike the one prepared in the Soviet period, consisted of three hydroelectric plants and included the territory of three municipalities - Tsageri, Tskaltubo, and Tkibuli. According to media reports, in 2012, the consortium failed to fulfill its obligations under the memorandum, and the project was suspended.

Nugzar Godoladze is a resident of Korenish village. He remembers how Georgian Dream promised the village that the Namakhvani Dam would never be built. However, in 2019, the government handed over 600 hectares of land to the Turkish company Enka Renewables in the Rioni Valley, 300 in ownership and the rest under a 99-year lease. Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia signed this decree before there were even studies on whether a giant hydroelectric power plant could be built in this area.

Then the residents of Rioni Valley reminded the governor of Imereti of the promise made by the ruling party, to which they received the answer: ‘’This promise was made in 2012, and we didn’t promise you this again for the 2016 elections.’’

Already in 2021, when the strong protest of the people stopped the construction of the Namakhvani dam, the government explained it by ‘’lack of proper communication with the people’’ and promised to ‘’correct it.’’

In 2022-2023, Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili has stated several times that large hydropower plants such as Namakhvani HPP, Khudon HPP, and Nenskra HPP will be built with the participation of the state.

Mountain Stories asked around in four villages of Rioni Valley - Orkhvi, Mekvena, Korenishi, and Namokhvani, whether this time the government has communication with the people whose houses are supposed to be flooded and have to move elsewhere.

Nugzar Godoladze, resident of Korenishi: ‘’Never. They didn't come then, and they haven't come now.’’

Valery Asatiani, a resident of Orkhvi: ‘’No, no one is talking to us?! This is what the entire population of Rioni Valley is fighting for, the government to talk to us!"

Maka Suladze, a resident of Mekvena: ‘’They don't consider us human beings at all. We are not their equal so why should they talk to us.’’

Lali Epremidze has been living in Rioni Valley for 48 years. She cannot imagine leaving her ancestral home.

‘’What's good for the people? A valley submerged in water?! Destroyed villages?! People fleeing?!’’

‘’We are against it because we know what will happen to us here and what will happen to Western Georgia,’’ Valery Asatiani is against the construction of a giant hydroelectric power plant, which according to the last project includes two dams - Zemo (upper) Namakhvani Hydroelectric Power Plant with an installed capacity of 100 MW and Kvemo (lower) Namazhavani HPP - with an installed capacity of 324 MW. The construction of the Zemo Namakhvani HPP dam is planned near the village of Tvishi. The height of the dam is 56 meters. About 1,000 hectares of land will be flooded for the HPP. The construction of a 105-meter-high dam is planned for the main structure of the Kvemo Namakhvani HPP, in the narrow valley of the Rion River above the village of Namakhvani. More than 500 hectares are flooded here. The construction of a 4,400-meter tunnel (diameter 9 meters) is planned for Kvemo Namakhvani HPP, in which the Rioni River will be channeled.

As a result of the construction of the HPP cascade, 19 monuments of cultural heritage, including 14 churches, in the Tsageri and Tskaltubo municipalities, in the Rioni River valley, fall into the area of negative impact of the HPP. The villages of Molekura, Lower Oncheishi, and Mekvena-Vanischala are completely covered by water, as well as 13 archaeological sites, some of which belong to the 5th-4th millennium BC, the Eneolithic era.

The idea of the construction of the Namakhvani dam struck the Rion valley. All respondents tell us that there is a tense silence in the valley.

‘’I and some of my neighbors remain in the valley. Something between us has ‘’broken,’’ and the old relationship from before ‘’Enka’’ entered the valley is no more. The population is divided into two: those who sold their houses to the construction company of the HPP and those who did not give up their land,’’ - Maka Suladze sacrificed her personal life to fight against the Namakhvani HPP. She also lost her family members.

‘’Mother died from worrying about this. My father was a completely healthy man and he suffered from the nervousness from seeing me fight like this. He knew that I had to do it. I had to fight so that he could stay here.

I could not bear that my father would be dragged away from his house by the police. I sacrificed my life for this project.’’

The project also sacrificed the future of the villages of the Rion Valley - there are no children under the age of 6 in Korenishi, Orkhvi, Vanishchala, Mekvena, and Namakhvani. Schools were closed one after the other in Zhoneti, Mekvena, and Namokhvani. You will find many abandoned houses in the valley. The road running through the valley above Namokhvani to Alpana is very damaged, and the government does not plan to rehabilitate it, despite the fact that transport from Kutaisi to Racha moves through this road. According to the Namakhvani dam project, this road will be flooded.

Valery Asatiani thinks that difficult infrastructural conditions are deliberately created: ‘’so that our people hate the villages, hate this valley, leave, and then they [the government] come, flood this valley and use it as they want. The only way a person can survive here is through viticulture, the development of winemaking. I have several vineyards. I wanted to build it again, but the entire valley and the surrounding villages of Tvishi are obstructed by this project. This is a unique micro-zone where semi-sweet wine comes from Tvishi. The Khvamli mountain is visible from above and is distinguished by this environment. In the case of construction of the HPP, this microzone will also be destroyed. There are such rocks here, in case of dusting, Khvamli Mountain will start to disintegrate. This could lead to what happened in Shovi.’’

The government did not talk to the population in Svaneti as well, where they plan to build Nenskra and Khudon HPPs.