The cracks of Shuakhevi, 5 May 2021

Since the construction of Shuakhevi commenced in 2013, local communities have been complaining about their cracked houses, decreased crops, disappeared drinking water and water leakages. They complain that these are the direct consequences of the construction...

Shuakhevi is one of Georgia’s biggest and most controversial hydropower plants, which is mostly famous for its failure: in 2017, two months after becoming operational, its tunnels collapsed at eight spots...

In 2020, new problems came to light: one month after the newly repaired Shuakhevi power plant started operations, Georgian online media outlet Batumelebi published footage that showed water leaking out of Shuakhevi’s dam...

Adjaristsqali Georgia LLC (AGL) is the company behind Shuakhevi’s construction and operations. It is owned by Norway’s Clean Energy Invest AS, India’s Tata Power and IFC Infraventures. Norway’s Clean Energy is also associated with the construction of another controversial large dam in Georgia, Namakhvani, which has caused a wave of protest across the country...

The locals recall that the company representatives explained the disappearance of water to them as the consequences of ‘weather changes’.