Open Programme for Rehabilitation of Infrastructure - Batumi (Phase IV)

completed

The program for the rehabilitation of municipal infrastructure includes the rehabilitation and partial construction of the water supply and wastewater disposal facilities in the city of Batumi on the Black Sea coast in Georgia. It consists of four successive program phases and a supplementary project component for improved rainwater management. The design horizon provides for up to 208,000 residents to be supplied with hygienically safe drinking water on a continuous basis and in accordance with their needs. At the same time, the wastewater is properly drained and cleaned by renovating and expanding the sewer system and operating a wastewater treatment plant. The FC module goal of the measures to improve the water supply and wastewater disposal systems is the continuous, needs-based and economically efficient supply of the population with hygienically perfect drinking water, and to ensure environmentally friendly and hygienically safe disposal and cleaning of wastewater for the urban population of Batumi and the residents of the neighboring coastal towns. This will contribute to sustainable and environmentally friendly municipal development and to improving settlement hygiene and the living conditions of the population of the city of Batumi. The target group are the residents of the city of Batumi, originally in the old administrative border, which was expanded to include the Chakvi villages and the southern villages during the project implementation. The project sponsor is the Batumi city administration. The facilities are operated by the municipal utility company Batumi Tskali (BTS). The first two phases of the program have already been completed. During the design and tendering phase of the third program phase, which is currently being implemented, further rehabilitation needs were identified, particularly due to the interim expansion of the city's administrative area. At the request of the Georgian side, a fourth program phase is therefore planned for the comprehensive renovation and new construction of water supply and in particular sewage disposal systems for additional supply zones in the outer residential districts and the connection of additional residents from the villages of Chakvi, Greencape and Makhinjauri, which have now been incorporated into the city of Batumi. The villages of Gonio, Akhalisopeli and Kvariati, which have also been incorporated, are to be connected to an orderly water supply as part of the fourth programme phase. The financing volume of programme phases I-III to date amounts to around EUR 108 million. For the fourth programme phase and to achieve an approx. 80 percent connection rate of the population within the new city limits to the drinking water supply - as well as hygienically safe wastewater drainage and treatment in the sewage treatment plant already built - the investment requirement, including consulting services, is estimated at EUR 30 million. This will be covered by a low-interest development cooperation loan. In addition, a needs-based, supporting accompanying measure (BM) of EUR 2 million is planned for institutional strengthening and personnel support.