Georgia: EBRD will help Tbilisi add 200 new natural gas buses
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has allocated a sovereign loan of up to 83 million euros to Georgia to be on-lent to the city of Tbilisi for the benefit of Tbilisi Transport Company Ltd., a municipal company operating buses, the metro system and cable cars in the capital city. The loan is structured in two tranches: 70 million and 13 million euros.
The project will finance the acquisition of a new fleet of approximately 200 18-meter low-floor articulated buses powered by natural gas and the construction of a new depot for these vehicles. With this, the city will complete the bus fleet renewal by fully replacing outdated polluting vehicles with modern environmentally cleaner units.
The initiative will also bring significant social benefits by facilitating easy access for passengers, and those with limited movement, including the elderly and the disabled; and improve the reliability, safety and efficiency of public transport, while the CNG technology will reduce harmful toxic emissions affecting air quality.
The loan is part of Green Cities 2 (GrCF2) and a follow-on investment to the Tbilisi Green City Action Plan (GCAP). The GrCF2’s primary goal is to achieve significant environmental improvements and promote the green transition quality in the targeted cities.
The project will help promote this transition by introducing buses that will reduce GHG emissions and transport related air pollution, which was identified in Tbilisi’s GCAP as a priority (“Bus fleet renewal with low/zero emission buses”).
