Georgia: The Prime Minister of Georgia, Irakli Kobakhidze, attended the opening ceremony of the Surami bypass of the main road artery of the country, the East-West Expressway, which was held on Friday, August 15, 2025.
It should be noted that the opening was a major event for the country. Notably, this project is one more step towards the strategic goal of making Georgia the central, fastest, and safest middle corridor connecting Europe and Asia.
While speaking at the opening event of Surami Bypass, the Prime Minister of Georgia, Irakli Kobakhidze, noted that the large-scale engineering project – a 6.4-kilometer-long road with 11 bridges and 5 tunnels, fully meets the highest international standards.
According to him, in the past years, they opened the hardest sections of the Ricoti and Batumi bypass, and, with the opening of this section of Surami, they will have an uninterrupted expressway from Tbilisi to the Ricoti tunnel.
The Georgian PM stated, “As I mentioned in my speech, this means reduced dead time for our citizens and visitors, increased safety, and, most importantly, a relief for Suram and the surrounding settlements from traffic. This project is about so much more than just infrastructure.” “This is one more step towards our strategic goal – to make Georgia the central, fastest, and safest ring of the middle corridor connecting Europe and Asia. This means reduced logistics costs, increased freight turnover, new jobs, and increased investment for our country, ” he added.
Irakli Kobakhidze also emphasised that the benefits of the project will have a direct impact on the well-being of the citizens of the country. It will also strengthen their country’s economic, regional, and geopolitical positions.
He also mentioned that this perspective is best seen in numbers that reflect the results already achieved and their scale: more than 298 kilometres of highways have been built under the government’s terms. It is worth noting that until 2012, a total of 68 km of highway was built.
It should be noted that all ongoing projects will be completed step by step, and construction of Batumi-Sarpi, Red Bridge, and adjacent sections will begin, which will fully provide the connection to the neighboring states by expressways.
During his speech, the Prime Minister Kobakhidze also thanked Georgia’s long-standing partner, the World Bank, and every engineer, specialist, Department of Roads, and Ministry of Infrastructure involved in the implementation of this large-scale project.
