MCA Monitor on the Road in the Republic of Georgia

“Imagine never having seen asphalt or a sidewalk,” Lasha Mgeladze, Millennium Challenge Georgia Fund (MCG) General Counsel, says to me as we travel on the 222 km of road being rehabilitated in the southern Samtskhe-Javakheti region of Georgia.  Through the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s compact in Georgia, the new Samtskhe-Javakheti Road will now connect an impoverished region that was isolated from markets, schools, and clinics to opportunities in Tbilisi as well as nearby Turkey and Armenia.With less than six months to go until the end of the five-year compact, it’s all-hands-on-deck to finish the final kilometers before winter begins.  MCG hopes to lay the final layer of asphalt by the end of the year and then mark the road, add guardrails and signage, complete sidewalks and drainage systems, and perform final safety and environmental inspections before the program ends in April 2011.It is an exciting time to be driving along the road.  Two bridges we cross were finished just a week ago.  Construction workers are building shoulders on the side of the road and erecting guardrails.  And other things - not funded by the MCC compact - are also popping up along the new road.  For example, we pass a seemingly new police station in a rural village and I ask when it opened.  The answer: just yesterday.

Construction of the Alhalkalaki Bypass Bridge. Beginning in Sept 2009, this 102m bridge was constructed where only a river and field used to be.

The most exciting part about driving over every kilometer of the Samtskhe-Javakheti Road is learning about all that goes into building a road. “Rehabilitation” doesn’t seem to do this endeavor justice; this is road creation from the muddy ditch up.  Many times, Lasha points out what used to be the “road,” and it’s a dirt track in a field that can scarcely compare to the painted, even black-top on which we are traveling.But what goes into making a road?  It’s not just the smooth asphalt you see stretching ahead into the Georgian mountains.  The Samtskhe-Javakheti Road comprises seven layers, from sub-grade to sub-base to wearing courses to the top layers of asphalt.  Each layer is meticulously tested in nearby contractors’ laboratories and confirmed as satisfactory before the next layer is applied.Road construction outside of a lab comes with its own pitfalls, challenges, and unforeseen obstacles.  One portion of the road lies at over 2200m above sea level while another is currently being reconstructed after a landslide.  A part of the road had to be diverted mid-construction upon discovery of 2000-year-old trees (understandable) while throughout the road over 50 “amphibian crossings” have had to be installed to allow for the free passage of frogs and lizards (at a cost of roughly $500,000 – less understandable).MCG also replaced water or gas pipelines in villages where the pipes were disturbed due to road construction, created 15 new bridges, and rehabilitated electrical poles all along the road.  All of this construction has come with the close involvement and buy-in of local citizens.  In each town and village the road traverses, residents are keenly aware of the road’s purpose, plan, and expected date of completion, often proving to be the most vocal monitors of the road’s progress.That’s the “how” of road construction but for the MCC and its particular model of U.S. aid delivery it always comes back to the “why.”  The Government of Georgia chose to include this road as one of the compact’s investments because the Samtskhe-Javakheti region of mostly ethnic minorities had long been isolated physically, economically, and socially despite producing some of the best potatoes and livestock in Georgia.  Because of the Samtskhe-Javakheti Road and the MCC, people in this region have gone from minimal access to any markets at all to access to markets in Tbilisi or Armenia and Turkey and a chance to increase livelihoods for their families and future generations.