Villagers Warm to Customs Reforms
Businessman Bacho Dolidze is turning post-Rose Revolution policy reforms into results on the ground in Georgia. Since 2003, his company, the Consulting Group of Caucasus, has been laying new gas pipelines and repairing old ones, restoring gas to settlements that have long gone without.
Among his current projects are two remote and extremely poor villages in Gardabani region, Nagebi and Lemmshveniera, where residents are desperate for the warmth the new pipelines will provide.
“Unemployment in villages is very high and the people are very poor. The villagers have not had any other heating source than chopping acres of trees in nearby forests for years,” says Dolidze. “Now, the forests no longer exist in that area.”
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| “I hope I will be cooking my New Year meals on a decent stove, not on this portable one,” says a housewife who will soon be served by a new gas pipeline |
After winning government procurements, Dolidze hired 30 villagers who will earn about 400 GEL each for two months work. “They are making a gas pipeline for their own homes and getting paid for it.”
"I am counting the days until this blessed gas pipe comes into my kitchen and I am so happy," says one of his customers.
Having to import gas pipeline from Ukraine, Dolidze is very pleased with the new government’s reforms of customs administration. USAID’s Business Climate Reform Project provided technical assistance in streamlining border clearance procedures, which it estimates will save businesses about $91 million annually. The World Bank reports customs reforms have reduced the time to import from more than 50 days in 2005 to 15 in 2006.
“Three years ago, to import anything, you had to visit 10 offices and pay someone extra money in each office for getting all your papers in order. It created a whole chain of corruption and delay that involved everybody. Today it’s much easier,” Dolidze reports. “It’s very organized there now. There’s one office and we know in advance how much we’ll have to pay. When there is stability in customs organization, there is stability in business.”
Customs reforms and reduced tariffs are allowing Dolidze to do more with his capital and work faster, enabling him to expand his business. Ultimately, the beneficiaries of customs reform that let businesses like Dolidze’s work more efficiently are their customers, like the residents of the homes served by the new gas pipelines.
"These young people have brought gas into our settlement. We have been keeping an eye on them for a long time. We made inquiries and found out that they had frequently won the governmental bids. The residents of neighboring villages are also content with their work. With them we feel ourselves safe and secure.”
Dolidze pledges that the coming New Year will look far brighter in Nagebi and Lemmshveniera than in the past. Fathers will return home with New Year gifts, mothers will bake New Year cakes in gas stoves, and children will sleep in warm beds. This “luxury” living will save hundreds of acres of trees from being chopped for firewood.
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