TBILISI. July 25 (Interfax-AVN) - Airstrips of old military airfields in Georgian areas bordering on Russia will be restored with U.S. assistance, Valery Chkheidze, chief of the Georgian State Border Guard Department, said on Friday.
"Using the financial aid from the U.S., the Georgian Defense Ministry and State Border Guar Department will soon start restoring airstrips in close-to-border areas jointly," Chkheidze told reporters.
He referred to the airfields in the localities of Kodori, Omalo, Lagodekhi, Mestia and a few others.
"Restoration in Omalo and Lagodekhi will be conducted with U.S. financial aid, and airstrip rehabilitation in other areas will be funded by the two Georgian agencies," Chkheidze said.
He noted that the airfield in Mestia, administrative center of the district adjacent of Abkhazia's Kodori gorge, will be the first to be restored. The work is to end before 2004.
"The airstrips on the airfield in Kodori, Lagodekhi, Omalo, and the town of Akhalkalaki on the Armenian border will follow," the official said.
"Several more airfields will be built if necessary in close- to-border areas in the future," he noted.
According to sources in the Georgian State Border Guard Department, a part of U.S. material and technical aid amounting to USD17.5m this year will be spent on airfield restoration.