Complaint Regarding The Dariali Hydro Power Plant Project, Georgia, 22 November 2014

On May 7, 2014, the EBRD approved up to USD 80 million to JSC Dariali Energy for the 108 MW Dariali HPP project on the river Tergi, Kazbegi Municipality. The project envisages construction of a derivation tunnel in order to divert water from a place close to the town of Stepantsminda towards the powerhouse close to the Russian-Georgian border.

Green Alternative has on many occasions expressed its concern regarding the project development: inadequate appraisal of the environmental and social risks and inadequate mitigation measures, social impacts and impacts on a protected area, lack of public participation, and violation in the decision making and permitting procedures. The violations and faults which have taken place represent not only a violation of Georgian legislation, but also contradict the environmental and social policy of the EBRD.

The one of the main problems raised in the complaint involves the improper site selection for the hydropower plant, that has resulted in the death of around 6 workers and 4 truck drivers (in May – 8 people died; in August – 2 workers died) at the working place, after the two consecutive landslides on Devdoraki glacier in May and August 2014. There are at least three well known mudflow rivers Devdoraki, Khuro, Chkhere on the project site, that has been chosen in a way that the Dariali Hydro derivation channel portal is located exactly at the convergence of the Devdoraki and Tergi rivers and the Dariali dam, tank and headwork - just at the convergence of the Khuro and Chkhere rivers...

The company has been provided with information about the improper assessment of the risks regarding the development of geodynamic processes in the EIA. It was warned several times by different geological experts and Green Alternative, but unfortunately the company did not take it into account...

In September 2013 Prof. Otar Duduari, also warned that the construction site has been chosen inadequately. More recently, Duduari stated that a construction of a hydropower plant anywhere in the Dariali gorge would increase the risk of natural disasters5 . The Chairman of the Expert Commission , Teimuraz Tbelishvili, that provides the state ecological expertise conclusion regarding the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in 2011 stated that “potential for mudslides at Khdistskali and Kurostskali have not been properly reflected in the EIA document.” Chapter 7.5 of the EIA report was dedicated to the risks of development of dangerous geodynamic processes such as ravine formation, landslides, debris flow, rockslide, mudflow that might be caused or activated only by the project itself. The risks of development geodynamic processes independently from the project and their impact on the project was not studied at all. Accordingly the proper mitigation measures such as early warning systems have not been determined, resulting in the death of around 6 workers (a total of 10 people died out of which 4 were truck drivers) on the construction site after the two consecutive landslides on Devdoraki glacier in May and August, 2014...