“It was mutually agreed to build a new laboratory beside the old one, at the Vere River bank,” Tbilisi Mayor Davit Narmania said at the meeting with Rector of TSU, Academician Vladimer Papava and research fellows and administrative staff of the TSU Hydrometeorology Laboratory. The meeting was held at Svanidze Street, where the laboratory hit by the June 13, 2015 deadly flood was located.
Tbilisi Mayor Davit Narmania promised TSU representatives that “the relevant services of the Tbilisi Municipality will work over proper planning of the area that will be agreed with the Architecture Service and ultimately the Hydrometeorology Laboratory will be able to continue its routine activities.”
TSU Rector Vladimer Papava said that “the hydrometeorology laboratory should be located at the river that will help students familiarize themselves with this direction. Scientific observations should also continue. Any other alternative, such as location of the laboratory on an adjacent territory, is absolutely unacceptable. This meeting at the facility was needed in order for the Tbilisi Mayor to make a principled decision, which meets the university’s interests.”
Merab Alaverdashvili, the laboratory director, expressed his satisfaction with the Mayor’s decision and noted that “Davit Narmania’s statement is a guarantee that the laboratory will be built at the Vere River bank and not far away from the river. It is utterly important not to cease a 53-year observation cycle on the river. The Hydrometeorology Laboratory had been functioning in this area since 1962, where observations were carried out on meteo-factors. Most important is to continue the educational process, which was underway at the laboratory during 53 years. It was just here, where famous geologists and geographers were doing their practical work in hydrometeorology.”
