On 26 February 2019, the Public Defender of Georgia presented a special report on atmospheric air pollution in Georgia. The report was criticized by Tbilisi City Hall, which termed the information about the state of municipal transport, the type of fuel used by it and the response of the agency to the construction-related violations as false. (The statement is available on the website: interpressnews.ge).

The Public Defender cannot agree with the Tbilisi Municipality’s criticism regarding the inaccuracy of information. When preparing the special report, the Public Defender’s Office had active relations with all responsible agencies and Tbilisi City Hall was the main source of information, analysis of which made it possible to identify both challenges and positive tendencies relating to the protection of quality atmospheric air.

With regard to the state of municipal transport, it is indicated in the report that the recently purchased 90 new buses are in good state and meet the Euro 6 standard, but they run on diesel, the standard of which equals Euro 4 and the sulfur level of which exceeds the European norm 5 times in Georgia. The use of such fuel even by vehicles, which do not have technical problems, creates a threat of air pollution.

The Public Defender's Office requested information from Tbilisi City Hall about why they chose to buy diesel buses. In response, the City Transport Department only provided technical description of the buses and did not specify whether they were planning and/or buying Euro 6 diesel for the buses.

As for the response to the construction-related violations, the Public Defender's Office requested information about the sanctions imposed by the Tbilisi City Hall in 2015-2018 for the air pollution caused only by construction dust. According to the reply of the City Hall’s Supervision Service, the agency lacks the authority to study the situation outside construction sites. In addition, the Service emphasized that the mentioned issue was not subject to regulation.

Consequently, it is indicated in the report that Tbilisi City Hall has not identified cases of air pollution caused by construction and has not imposed relevant sanctions since 2015. The Public Defender's report does not evaluate the City Hall's response mechanism relating to other kinds of construction violations.