New section of Rikoti highway opens in Georgia

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced the opening of a 12-km section of the 48-km, four-lane Rikoti Highway, making it part of the strategic East-West road route.

The Georgian PM highlighted the "increased pace" of road construction over the past 12 years, with around 300 km of highway built since 2012, while before that there had been only 68 km of highway in the country.

He added that 49 tunnels and 88 bridges on the Rikoti section were already operational, which “showed the scale of works completed in such a short time”.

"The construction of all ongoing sections will be completed step by step and next year travelling from Tbilisi to Batumi will take a maximum of three hours”, Kobakhidze said.