Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze announced that Varketili Metro station will reopen to passengers within days, though full rehabilitation works will continue until the end of the year.
The mayor mentioned that any remaining construction will be carried out only after metro service hours, ensuring no disruption for commuters.
“We are working to adjust the station’s schedule so it can open one hour later and close one hour earlier, allowing more time for work and a faster completion,” Kaladze explained.
Temporary buses and minibuses were deployed during the station’s closure, but Kaladze admitted they could not fully replace the metro’s capacity. He apologized for the inconvenience, noting that large-scale projects of this kind inevitably cause temporary disruption.
Pointing out delays in the rehabilitation process, the mayor explained that the main challenge was finding qualified experts for the project design and technical assessment.
“No suitable expert group was found in Georgia, so the tunnel underwent a full study by foreign specialists and the National Bureau of Forensic Expertise. They found structural issues with the arch, which required us to halt operations to reinforce it,” Kaladze said.
