The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has allocated a sovereign loan of 55.6 million euros from its Green Climate Fund to finance the renovation of up to 12 metro stations in the Georgian capital city of Tbilisi.

The loan and grant agreements were signed by Minister of Finance of Georgia Lasha Khutsishvili and EBRD Vice President for Policy and Partnerships Mark Bowman, who is on a working visit to Georgia as part of the Caucasian tour.

“We hope that the project’s successful completion will encourage more people to use public transportation by enhancing the Metro system’s accessibility, dependability, and safety. The project will improve the metro stations’ energy efficiency that will help the city to build more effective infrastructure and lead to enhanced climate resilience”, - said Lasha Khutsishvili.

As Mark Bowman added, Tbilisi had made “significant progress” in transforming its urban transport infrastructure to meet “growing environmental challenges” over the recent years.