"We welcomed a recent halt in the construction as an admission that not all is well in the Borzhomi section (on Georgian territory)." he said.
Frijns added that this problem had repeatedly been raised by many non-government organisations.
The BankTrack representative would not comment on the political motives for the pipeline's construction from Azerbaijan to Turkey via Georgia.
In February of this year, BankTrack condemned the action of nine banks from different countries in signing Baku documents on financial support for the project. Earlier, the same banks had declared their participation in the so-called "Equator Principles", advanced by BankTrack, pledging not to back schemes doubtful in ecological terms, people safety and the environment.
"This pipeline has been many times criticised seriously for doing ecological damage and eroding human rights and also for destabilising a restive region," it was indicated at BankTrack.
August 9's protest action by residents of Tabatskuri village in Georgia's Borzhomi Gorge against the construction of Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline led to clashes with police.
RIA Novosti was told at the territorial department of the Interior Ministry then that about 70 locals stoned the police as they tried to disperse the protesters. As a result, bodily injuries were sustained by Colonel Dzhemal Georgadze, head of the criminal investigation department of the territorial police, and Manuchar Chkoidze, an inspector of the same department.
The laying of Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan through a 16-kilometre stretch of the Borzhomi Gorge was suspended on the request of the Georgian government over non-fulfilment of safety guarantees. Following the insistent demands of the Georgian leadership, British Petroleum company assumed an obligation to make additional efforts to guarantee the pipeline's ecological safety.
With BP's consent to install technical means of protection received, the Georgian government gave the green light to the company to resume the work.
