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- Bank to invest up to €12.5 million in upgrading Ganja’s municipal street lighting
- Sovereign loan to be co-financed by a grant of up to €2.5 million from the E5P
- EBRD Green Cities project to bring substantial energy-efficiency gains, improved road safety
More than 300,000 people living in Azerbaijan’s second-largest city stand to benefit from further improvements in their urban environment thanks to a second Green Cities project agreed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Ganja City Executive Power.
In an agreement signed today by EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso and Azerbaijani Minister of Finance Samir Sharifov, the Bank committed to investing to improve the city’s street-lighting infrastructure.
The loan will be co-financed by a grant of up to €2.5 million from the Eastern Europe Energy Efficiency and Environment Partnership (E5P), to which the European Union (EU) is the largest contributor.
The project follows a previous EBRD investment in improving Ganja’s solid-waste collection infrastructure.
The modernisation of the city’s street lighting will include the installation of energy-efficient light-emitting diode (LED) lighting units and automated lighting monitoring and control systems, as well as the replacement of power cables and relevant equipment.
For Ganja’s residents, this means substantial energy-efficiency gains, better road safety and greater levels of perceived security.
EBRD President Renaud-Basso, who is on her first visit to Azerbaijan, said: “It is great to be here, signing this agreement with Minister Sharifov in person.
“I would like to thank the mayor of Ganja and other cabinet ministers for their continued support for the projects under the Ganja Green Cities programme.
I am also delighted that this project is being co-financed by the E5P donor fund, to which the EU is the largest contributor. I hope that Ganja will soon be one of many Green Cities in Azerbaijan.”
Azerbaijan’s Minister of Finance, Samir Sharifov, said: “…”
The €5 billion EBRD Green Cities programme helps member cities to identify, prioritise and tackle their most pressing environmental challenges by developing tailor-made Green City Action Plans and making targeted investments to address each city’s urban challenges.
Ganja joined the programme in 2020, becoming the first city in Azerbaijan to do so. There are currently 56 cities in the Green Cities network.
Cities, which account for 70 per cent of energy use and 80 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, present a big opportunity to tackle climate change and environmental degradation.
This is particularly true of cities in the EBRD regions, where obsolete urban infrastructure is degrading the quality of life, increasing greenhouse gas emissions and preventing communities from adapting to climate change.
The EBRD is a leading institutional investor in Azerbaijan. Since the start of its operations there in 1992, the Bank has invested more than €3.65 billion in 181 projects in the financial, corporate, infrastructure and energy sectors, with most of those investments in private enterprises. The Bank’s strategy in the country focuses on helping Azerbaijan to diversify its economy and develop the non-oil private sector.