Khudoni Hydro Power Plant

Khudoni HPP site is located in Zemo Svaneti (Upper Svaneti) which has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site area since 1996 due to exceptional examples of mountain scenery with medieval-type villages and tower-houses preserved by its long isolation.[9] Local population still lives based on mixture of ancient traditions and Christianity. The Svans, an ethnographic group of the Georgian people, have their own language and traditions, their own architectural styles, and ancient customs which are still a part of everyday life.[10] The environmental and social impact assessment of Khudoni HPP project does not include a detailed description of all the cultural heritage sites, their precise location and stakeholder responses and agreements.[3]

While project developers stated Khudoni HPP will adhere to World Bank policies and standards on resettlement there are still measures that have to be taken. Khudoni HPP project presupposes resettling around 2000 people which will have a devastating impact on Svans living in the area. So far no resettlement plan was released.[11] Furthermore, the environmental and social impact assessment does not provide any distinction between groups of affected people according to the degree of impact from the project. There is a need to clearly distinct among different groups of affected people and design a tailored made package of livelihood restoration accordingly. Such flaws in procedures for resettlement planning and lack of information have resulted in significant distrust of the population in government and investor.[3]

On 5 March 2018, representatives of all 17 communities of Upper Svaneti gathered in Mestia for a traditional Svan Council meeting, Lalkhor, to oppose the development of gold mining and hydropower projects in Svaneti that threaten local livelihoods and ecosystems.[12]

The protesters restated their demands – discontinuation of over 50 dam projects, including the Nenskra hydro power plant, Nenskra dams, and the Mestiachala hydropower plant.

The Lalkhor came up with the joint statement and developed a petition addressing the Georgian government, diplomatic missions accredited in Georgia, and international financial institutions.

The Lalkhor demands to recognize Svans as ancient, indigenous, aboriginal, autochthonic people with appropriate rights for customary and community property in Svaneti and to ban development of any infrastructure without their prior consent. [13]

Environmentalists remain sceptical about the Khudoni HPP project. The sub-alpine forests and meadows of the upper river Inguri basin is an area well known for its endemic wildlife. The species that are often found here include different forest birds, large raptors and other endemic birds. Mountain goats, chamois, brown bear, wolf, lynx, roe deer and wild boar are also quite common.[10] Flooding of the reservoir area will cause the devastation of forests and wildlife habitat, the loss of river species populations and the degradation of upstream catchments areas. Even though there is no official protected status in Svaneti, the rich biological diversity of the unique area would be irreparably impacted by Khudoni HPP.[11]

Cumulative environmental impact assessment of existing and potential hydro power plants on the Inguri river has been done, but it only includes areas downstream from the proposed Khudoni dam. With more plans to construct hydro power plants on Inguri, the cumulative impact of all of them will result in negative effect on biodiversity and water quality.[14]

Due to outdated data (measurements from 1966 to 1986 were used) and the fluctuation of the inflow of sediments, inadequate assessment of the lifespan of the reservoir has been made. There is strong evidence that the volume of the sediment inflow is much higher, since the construction of the new 20 km road was not included in the measurements. Furthermore, the slopes around reservoir are unstable which can further shorten the lifespan of the reservoir. There is a need to redo the measurements of sediment inflow and to develop mitigation measures to avoid landslides and rock falls into the reservoir area.[3]