On November 14, 2020, the State, using police force, dispersed a protest rally held by the local population against the construction of the Namakhvani hydropower plants' cascade in the village of Zhoneti
Mountain villages in the country’s northeast protest for changes to the routing of high voltage lines in a series of local protests. Construction on a powerline in Georgia was put on hold one month ago after villagers blocked excavation machinery in the village of Pasanauri.
Protests against large dams in Georgia’s Svaneti mountains have led to confrontations with police. Locals are losing patience over the protracted consultation process on the project. Police special forces were deployed last Friday, 20 May to clear a blockade of an access road leading to the planned Nenskra dam site in Georgia’s northwest.
Protests have in recent weeks broken out across rural Georgia after construction resumed on several large dam projects. At the sites of the Shuakhevi, Nenskra and the Dariali hydropower plants, demonstrators have complained that the projects were decided behind closed doors,
After hitting a snag, the Khudoni dam in Georgia’s mountains is back in the game threatening to expropriate private lands and to bump up electricity prices for Georgian consumers. The controversial changes in an amended contract have inflamed the passion of the Svans who have for years tried to protect their communities from flooding.
