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EBRD improves water supply in Georgia
Loans to Kutaisi and Poti to support investment programmes
The EBRD is supporting key improvements of the water supply in the two
Georgian cities of Kutaisi and Poti with a €3 million and €2.5 million loan
respectively. Together with grant finance and Technical Cooperation funds the
loans will finance significant investments in both cities to enable 24 hours
water supply. The water and wastewater infrastructure in Kutaisi and Poti is
in urgent need of rehabilitation and renewal.
In Kutaisi, Georgia’s second largest city with 185,000 inhabitants and located
in the west of the country, the project includes the rehabilitation of well
fields and transmission pumping stations, the rehabilitation of reservoirs and
the supply network and the installation of meters in all households. Most of
the local water supply and wastewater collection system was built in the 1930s
and today 80 per cent of pipes and wells are almost fully rusted and unusable.
The EBRD will provide a €3 million loan to the Republic of Georgia for
on-lending to the local water company Kuttskalkanali, which is fully owned by
the city. Total project cost will be €12.5 million.
Water supply is also a serious problem in Poti, located on the Black Sea in
western Georgia, the country’s largest port and the shortest route from
central Asia to Europe. Today the city’s 45,000 inhabitants receive water for
only six hours every other two days. A €2.5 million EBRD loan to the Republic
of Georgia and on-lent to the local water company Tskalkanali will be used to
construct a new 47 kilometre water pipeline, for the rehabilitation of the
existing water network, constructed in 1939, and the installation of meters in
all households. Total project cost will be €12.3 million.
Thomas Maier, EBRD Director for Municipal and Environmental Infrastructure,
said the investments will help Georgia to overcome one of the country’s most
pressing concerns. The steady supply of clean water is a precondition for
other ambitious rehabilitation projects. With the combination of an affordable
loan with donor grant finance and extensive Technical Cooperation a
tailor-made approach to fulfil the needs of countries like Georgia has been
put into place which will safeguard the projects’ success.
The projects benefited from EU grant funds for preparation. Capital grants
will come from the Swedish International Development Co-Operation Agency
(SIDA), the US Millennium Challenge Corporation and the European Union Water
Initiative. TC funds will be provided by SIDA and the ETC Fund.
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