According to Levan Vepkhvadze, Chairman of the Board of the Association for Renewable Energy Development of Georgia, investors find it difficult to start new projects in the energy sector.
As he told BM.GE, the reason is the negative sentiments of the population in different regions regarding the construction of hydropower plants.
"We remember that the public was against the construction of 700 mgwt Khudoni and supported building of HPP with a capacity of 5 mgwt. Today we are in a really ridiculous situation, as we are told not to build this 5 mgwt HPP, so we must finally decide to have 5-7 mgwt HPPs or one "Khudoni", which is stable and supplies electricity, when the population needs.
Construction of HPPs is difficult for everyone through the last two years. The main risk factor is unacceptability of the local population and the negative campaign that goes on television against any HPP, regardless it has a negative impact on the population or not", Vepkhvadze said.
