The Batumi City Council removed the note on the non-compliance of the "Ambassador" from the general plan of the boulevard

The opposition voted against the decision. According to the members of the "National Movement", "Lelo", and "For Georgia" parties, the city council made changes in the document received by the "Bau Design" company to influence the court.

"At the behest of Bidzina Ivanishvili, the general plan was crushed, in which we paid half a million GEL and some officials for the favour of certain businessmen. This is because the court dispute is going on, and the Murusidze-Chinchaladze court is free. He can now legalize the "Ambassador" - the chairman of the "National Movement" faction, Lasha Kilaberia.

According to Vazha Darcia, a member of the City Council from the "Lelo" party, the presence of the word "inappropriate" in the "General Plan" did not mean that the building should be demolished or remain. On the contrary, it was the whim of the investor to remove this word from the document, which the City Council approved."

"The court permitted "Ambassador" to continue the ongoing dispute about how legally this permission was issued. That is, they claim that because we removed the word inappropriately, it means that we are dictating something to the court. If we did not remove it, we would dictate something to the court in the opposite direction. Therefore, if the court is completely neutral, we have made a good decision by removing the assessment."

According to the explanation of Tengiz Abkhazava, the chairman of the "Georgian Dream" faction, the permission granted to the "Ambassador" has been appealed in court, and the fate of the building will be decided not by the city council but by the court: 

If the court decides, the construction will continue. However, if the court says the permit was wrongly issued, the building will be demolished.

Before the session of the City Council, a letter was sent that this issue should be adopted during the development process in the form that the City Council made today's decision; however, the group that won the tender ("Bau Design" LLC) did not take this request into account."

To remove the note about the non-conformity of the "Ambassador" building under construction from the Batumi Boulevard protection and development plan, the City Council requested this company ", Ambassador Batumi" LLC. But, unfortunately, company representatives did not attend the session of the City Council.

The development plan for Batumi Boulevard was prepared by "Bau Design" company. "One of the main principles of park architecture of Batumi Boulevard is the continuation of the city streets in the form of pedestrian paths and longitudinal squares in the direction of the sea.

"No object should be placed on such spatial and visual axes, which blocks the view to the depth of the boulevard, to the sea and blocks these spatial and visual corridors," the development plan of Batumi boulevard states.

Batumi seaside boulevard is an immovable monument of cultural heritage. "Ambassador Batumi" obtained permission to perform rehabilitation works in the centre of the boulevard for the first time in 2018, which meant the construction of a four-story health centre, which had to adapt to the historical, artistic and architectural characteristics of the building (former naval polyclinic) standing in this area. At the end of 2019, "Ambassador Batumi" requested to change the permit conditions and increase the four-story building to 15 floors, which the Adjara Cultural Heritage Protection Agency did not agree to due to residents' protests. Later, the agency changed its decision, and in January 2021, it allowed the company to build a 19-story hotel complex (three below ground) on the territory of the cultural heritage monument by amending the existing permit. With the permission issued in December of the same year, two more floors were added to the 19-story project.

Non-governmental organizations "Social Justice Center" and society "Batomi" applied to the court a year ago to request to cancel the construction permit. However, in April 2021, the Batumi City Court did not satisfy the claimants' request to suspend the construction of "Ambassador Batumi" until a decision was made on the case. 

The company "Ambassador Batumi" belongs to Russian citizens Elguja Keburia and Vartan Vartanov. Keburia also has Georgian citizenship.