The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is extending a €16 million sovereign loan to the government of Georgia to benefit the city of Tbilisi and its EBRD-backed Green Cities programme. The loan will enable the Georgian capital to continue modernising its solid waste management and financing infrastructure, converting the gas produced by solid waste into electricity.
The loan will be complemented by a €4 million grant from the Eastern Europe Energy Efficiency and Environment Partnership (E5P) Fund. Donors to the E5P Fund include Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Sweden, the TaiwanBusiness-EBRD Technical Cooperation Fund, the United States of America and the European Union, the largest donor.
Thanks to this financing, the city of Tbilisi will be able to refurbish existing cells at the Didi Lilo landfill and install a landfill gas collection, flaring and utilisation (landfill gas-to-energy conversion) system. The production of renewable energy from landfill gas is expected to reach almost 30,000 MWh/year.
With this funding, Tbilisi becomes the city with the most investments to date under the EBRD Green Cities programme.
The implementation of the gas-to-energy facility will improve solid waste services for the city’s 1.5 million citizens and cut greenhouse gas emissions by 75 per cent, contributing to climate change mitigation.
The financing is being supported by technical cooperation on project implementation, while project preparation has been funded by Sweden.
Since 2018, the Bank has been working closely with the city of Tbilisi to improve its solid waste management system by financing critical investments in outdated solid waste collection vehicles and machinery, optimising garbage-truck pool management systems, upgrading transfer stations and leachate collection and treatment systems, and building the first waste-treatment facilities in the city.
As part of the investment, the city’s waste management company will introduce a staff training programme on preventing and mitigating gender-based violence and harassment risks.
The loan and grant agreements were signed in Yerevan, Armenia during the EBRD’s Annual Meeting and Business Forum.
To date, the EBRD has invested more than €5 billion in 293 projects in the financial, corporate, infrastructure and energy sectors in Georgia, with 82 per cent of those investments in the private sector.
