LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR TBILISI ... - LED

Phase II
As in every strategic programming process what should follow next is the analysis of
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and external threats the City has to face. It is a task
that requires from the members of the Inter-sector Team a lot of effort and
professionalism. The natural outcome of this analysis is the identification of key problems
for Tbilisi development. Then, a conceptual work begins in order to decide on the ways of
solving these problems, to define the priorities. These activities are performed by the Intersector
Team of the City Development Programme and the City Development Council who
define the development directions and recommend development priorities to the President
of the City.
Before the priorities are approved, the President consults the City Council commissions,
local community and selected organisations.
Phase III
After the consultation the adopted priorities are publicly announced, which is an invitation
to submit proposals of implementation projects. It is vital that the announcement of the
priority development directions is addressed to all organisations and public administration
institutions that are interested in implementing various projects within the announced
priorities. The proposed implementation projects are submitted on standardized forms to
the Working Team whose task is to compare the projects. Then the Working Team
evaluates and selects the proposals. The evaluation and selection criteria are first of all
based on their efficiency in implementing the adopted priorities and how well they are
prepared. Then the shortlist is made of the ones that deal with the major strategic issues.
After consultations with the City Council the list is eventually approved by the President.
Phase IV
The announcement of the list of the approved projects is the signal for the bidders to send
application forms. The standardized forms helps to evaluate projects by comparing their
main elements and to remain impartial. The applications are then analysed by the Plan
Inter-sector Team who finally approves the projects that will contribute to working out the
draft Corporate City Development Plan for Tbilisi based on the implementation objectives
of the City Development Strategy. The Working Team writes the final version of the Plan.
Then the President of the City consults various organisations and submits the Plan for the
City Council’s approval.
The implementation of the Plan requires a great deal of effort from all the participants. The
course of implementation is monitored and continually adjusted due to changing
conditions and unforeseen events.
Timetable
Every cycle begins with evaluation and gathering information about the economic and
social situation in Tbilisi. All these elements are repeated. Professional evaluation of the
City situation not only helps to identify the key problems to be solved in the next edition of
the Plan, but also defines the needs of the opinion-making groups. It is easier to choose
the best ways of public intervention if the conclusions from the analysis (the survey,
statistical data analysis) are correct.
As it has been mentioned, the Corporate City Development Plans should be developed in
yearly cycles. When deciding when the works should commence it is reasonable to take
into consideration the City budget procedure and reporting dates. It is important to
remember about the deadlines of applications to financial institutions and organisations
supporting implementation projects.
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