Construction sector has a significant influence over the economic, social and urban development by being a prospective field for investments, by creating jobs and facilitating the satisfaction of the increasing citizen demand on new residential spaces.
The major part of construction sector in Georgia is concentrated in Tbilisi and had been characterised with large-scale rising tendency during the last decade. One of the preconditioning factors for the mentioned rise was deregulation that, along with the positive outcomes, has posed significant hazards to the sustainable urban development of the capital.
The above-mentioned hazards were addressed in both various expert opinions and media and the World Bank report,1 having outlined that the current construction administration practice has a negative impact over the quality of urban environment and poses hazards to the investment environment. In response to the mentioned problems, development of a new master plan was initiated in 2015 under the commission of the Tbilisi Municipality City Hall the final version whereof was approved in 2019. The year 2018 was marked with significant changes in the approaches to the urban development management of the capital and in the construction permit issuing procedures along with the change in the management of Tbilisi Municipality.
The State Audit Office has studied 3 direction of the city development process:
• Statistics on the number and characteristics (area of a land plot, development intensity, etc.)
of the permits issued during the years 2011-2018 and the status of their realization (completion
of the construction /settlement);
• Observance of legislative norms and good public administration principles in the process of
issuing construction permits;
• Effect of changes made to the permit conditions and procedures over the quality of residential
environment.
An auditee is the City Hall of Tbilisi Municipality and LEPL Municipal Department of Architecture of the city of Tbilisi.
