One Dies at New Parliament Construction Site in Kutaisi

A construction worker died after a collapse of scaffolding at a construction site of new Parliament building in Kutaisi, President Saakashvili said on Thursday evening.

News broke late on Thursday afternoon about an incident on the construction site of parliament building in Kutaisi; reports, however, were sketchy with some news outlets reporting about “the collapse of the new Parliament building”.

A representative of a construction company carrying out works at the site denied collapse of the building, saying that scaffolding of a nearby, separate building, not the one of the Parliament, collapsed killing 50-year-old worker.

One local news outlet in Kutaisi has reported that about 20 workers have been injured, but the construction firm has denied it.

Later on June 7 the Healthcare Ministry released a statement strongly denying media reports, saying that there were no injured persons as a result of the incident.

No information from independent sources was available about what exactly has happened at the construction site; the area around the construction site is sealed off and journalists are not able to approach the new Parliament building.

Speaking at a meeting with a group of teacher and school students, President Saakashvili said that “criminal charges should be opened against” those in charge of safety measures on the construction site. He also said that “never, ever in Georgia’s history has construction of such scale” been carried out as it was now across the country.

Although construction of the 40-meter high glass-dome new Parliament building with its 200-meter long thin shell concrete structure, covering the dome like a stripe, is not completed, President Saakashvili hosted there lawmakers during Georgia’s Independence Day on May 26.

46-meter high concrete and bronze World War II memorial was blown up to make way for construction of the new Parliament building in Kutaisi in December, 2009 during which a woman and her child died.