Strengthening Project Development of the Water and Urban Development Sector (Subproject 5)

Proposed

The TA cluster subproject 5 (Strengthening Project Development of the Water and Urban Development Sectors) will support capacity development, policy advice, project identification, and support of project preparation of 2025 to 2028 pipeline projects. It will directly support the country partnership strategy's objectives to transition to a green and integrated economy, with focus on improving the overall capacity of Georgia's large water state-owned enterprise; and foster a more resilient and inclusive society through investment projects aimed at enhancing the accessibility and liveability of medium and small cities and rural area thus, uplifting these areas' full economic potential. The subproject particularly supports cross-cutting thematic priorities, such as climate change and disaster risk management, and accelerating digital transformation by introducing digital solutions across the water and urban operations.Target Outputs:1. Institutional capacity for urban climate resilience and disaster risk management improved. This output includes strategic assessment and knowledge sharing events to identify institutional set-up and innovative and integrated solutions to be financed under a priority investment plan for urban and coastal resilience. It will strengthen capacity of policymakers and facilitate coordination among them for sustainable implementation arrangements of ensuing loans.2.Strengthened design of urban and water sector programs. This output will finance project origination and due diligence activities to help pivot ADB's urban programs toward more climate action and gender mainstreaming. These activities include, though not limited to, strategic assessments on procurement and safeguards, economic and financial sector assessments and/or analysis, and project concept notes. The output will contribute to readiness of ensuing loans which are innovative in lending modality and technical content.The TA cluster subproject will have the following outcome: Government capacity and project pipeline for advancing climate and disaster resilience in the water and urban sectors enhanced.