19-07-03 The population of several villages in one of the southern regions of Georgia have held up traffic on the Georgia-Turkey border as a sign of protest against BP, which is building the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline here.
BP has not paid local residents enough compensation for the land that is to be covered by the oil pipeline and as a result the company is facing a battle in the local courts as well as protests and threats to prevent work on the oil pipeline.

According to Vanno Merabishvili, a member of the regional parliament, BP is rudely ignoring the interests of local residents and is not carrying out its financial obligations. He predicts that protests in the region against BP may escalate and may spread to other regions.
Despite environmental protests, BP is planning to begin construction work in the Borjomi region soon in what is a world-famous nature reserve.

Nonetheless Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze continually insists that the oil pipeline is in the interests of theGeorgian population. Lately, for example he mentioned that local residents had received a total of about $ 5.5 mm in compensation for the land and this sum is not final.
Mr Shevardnadze also says that the project is environmentally friendly. However, environmentalists warn that world-famous Borjomi mineral water will not survive much longer. Instead consumers will be offered a cocktail of Borjomi and oil.