The Parliament approved on July 10 with its third hearing the government’s legislative initiative to triple fee for extraction of Borjomi and Nabeglavi mineral waters from October 1.

Fee for extraction of Borjomi will be increase from current GEL 10 to GEL 30 per cubic meter and Nabeglavi – from current GEL 6 to GEL 18 per cubic meter.

According to the explanatory note of the bill, mineral waters are exhaustible resources and since there is a huge demand for them both on internal and export markets, it is “important” to bring extraction fee in line with these factors.

According to the official data, the state budget received GEL 2.28 million as a fee for Borjomi and Nabeglavi mineral water extraction in 2011 and GEL 2.22 million – in 2012.

The government first announced about its plans to triple extraction fees in April causing concerns from producer of Borjomi mineral water. IDS Borjomi Georgia, a local branch of IDS Borjomi Beverages, said in a statement that tripling of already high fee would be a blow for its competitiveness both on internal and export markets.