By Loretta  Martikian

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is extending a €3.03 million(US$3.6million) sovereign loan to the Municipality of Tbilisi City in Georgia for the upgrade of the leachate system at the city’s solid waste landfill.

The project is part of the Green Cities Framework 2 and is a follow-on investment of the first phase, where the Bank extended a €15 million loan to Tbilisi in 2018 for the renewal of the city’s solid waste collection fleet, as well as the upgrade of the existing solid waste transfer station and environmental protection measures. The Tbilisi Solid Waste Project employs the best available technology in line with European Union standards and will help to reduce environmental pollution from the existing landfill.

The upgrade applies to drainage collection of the liquid generated from rainfall and the natural decomposition of waste, so that it is properly removed from the landfill.

EBRD Director for the Caucasus, Catarina Bjorlin Hansen said: “We are pleased to sign this new agreement today. More than 1.1 million residents of Georgia’s capital will benefit from an improved solid waste management system. This new loan will provide additional resources to upgrade the infrastructure and make it more environmentally friendly for the citizens of Tbilisi.”

The EBRD is a leading institutional investor in Georgia and, to date, has invested more than €4 billion in the country through 262 projects in the financial, corporate, infrastructure and energy sectors, with 79 per cent of those investments in the private sector.