Georgia : East-West Highway (Khevi-Ubisa Section) Improvement Project

Transport / Road transport (non-urban)

Located at the crossroads of Central West Asia and Eastern Europe and bounded to the west by the Black Sea, Georgia has historically been a trade center. It has played a key role in the movement of peoples and goods from Russia in the north to Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey onwards to Iran in the south, and from Europe in the west to Asia in the east. The road network in Georgia extends to about 22,000 km with 6,835 km of international and secondary roads managed by the Road Department (RD) under the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure (MRDI) and about 15,000 km of local roads managed by district administrations. Following its Development Strategy of 'Georgia 2020 , the government is committed to develop the country as a regional transport and logistics hub for trade. The 2014 Enabling Trade Index--an assessment of market access, border administration, transport and communications infrastructure and business environment--ranked Georgia 56th out of 138 countries, indicating substantial rooms for improvement especially in its quality of infrastructure.

The East West Highway (EWH), stretching 410 km from Sarpi on the Black Sea, at the border with Turkey, through the center of the country to the capital Tbilisi and on to the border with Azerbaijan, is at the top priority of Government's transport infrastructure development. Representing about 2 percent of Georgia's road network length and one fourth of its international road network, the EWH serves 8,000 to 10,000 vehicles per day and carries over 60 percent of the country's international trade. Today, EWH dominates and carries most of sub-regional and international traffic, with a traffic growth rate of over 10% per annum since 2005. In anticipation of admission of Georgia to the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) program in 2016, the EWH will be an integral part of one of the six key CAREC corridors providing the shortest transit link to connect Central Asia with Europe and East Asia.

To minimize the overall cost of transport and logistics, EWH needs to rid all bottlenecks constraining traffic capacity. The current 2-lane section between Chumateleti and Argveta is located in the most difficult mountainous terrain: improvements are either completed or underway on each side of this section. Completed EWH improvement will advance Georgia's Enabling Trade Index ranking substantially. It will be not only crucial for the connectivity of international trade between the Caspian and Black Seas, but also of paramount importance for Georgia''s global market access and socioeconomic development. A World Bank study shows it has wider impacts too--the reduction in transportation costs after corridor improvements will be more beneficial for the rural population who are much more reliant on transportation and sensitive to price changes. Over the last decade, the Government and development partners have joint hands to upgrade most of the EWH to a dual 2 lane carriageway international motorway standards.

In 2009, ADB financed a western end section of the EWH, the Kuboleti bypass, and is now preparing a new project to construct a continuation of this section along the major Black Sea port Batumi. Georgia has also been successful in mobilizing financing from other development partners including World Bank (WB), the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA). For instance, about 155 km had been upgraded and 113 km are under construction out of the EWH by the end of 2015. Its remaining last section is located at geologically challenging mountainous terrain of the alignment, which will cost substantially higher than the earlier works. Needless to say, developing the EWH is of great significance to the landlocked countries of Central Asia. Once the bottlenecks are removed, it will provide a competitive corridor serving both domestic and international transportation needs.

Georgia is a regional and logistics hub and more attractive for businesses

Efficiency and safety of road transport along the EWH improved

12 km section of EWH between Khevi and Ubisa constructed

Road safety awareness increased

Capacity of Roads Department for operation and maintenance and project management improved

Detailed design for E-60 Highway Section from Natakhtari to Rustavi (Tbilisi Bypass)

As of 30 September 2022, cumulative works progress for F2 section is about 76.0%. Works are ongoing on bridges, tunnels, and highway.

The road safety awareness component and capacity building for operation and maintenance and project management component under F2 and F4 loans are harmonized for implementation. The road safety campaigns for both F2 and F4 will be conducted in 2023 during UN Road Safety week. Project management training program is planned to be delivered in 2023. The road maintenance sustainability strategy is in the initial stages of preparation.

Preparation of the detailed design for Tbilisi Bypass is ongoing and expected to be completed by end December 2022.