Ellen Barry, reporting for the New York Times:
The headlong pace of new construction in Georgia has not allowed for public debate over the projects’ financing, environmental impact or merit. Despite queries raised on all of these scores, Lazika’s first building — a futuristic Public Service Hall for the new city — is already under construction, and due to open in September. Ten years from now, President Mikheil Saakashvili has said, Lazika will be Georgia’s second-largest city after Tbilisi, which has a population of about 1.5 million, and a leading Black Sea trading hub.
All that’s missing? Migration to the region, sustained double digit economic growth, the need for a 1.5 million person city in a country of 4.5 million. Sounds like a solution in search of a problem.