Asian Development Bank (ADB) has allocated a $10 million loan for Georgian Optima company to build two residential complexes, providing over 3,700 affordable and energy-efficient apartments for people with a low or middle incomes, in capital Tbilisi.

 It is ADB’s first private sector housing project in the South Caucasus and Central Asia.

Optima is a subsidiary of m2 Group and Georgia Real Estate (GRE), one of Georgia’s leading residential and commercial real estate companies

ADB Private Sector Operations Department Director of Infrastructure Finance for South Asia, Central Asia, and West Asia Shantanu Chakraborty says that the project aims to update  affordable housing in Tbilisi by incorporating inclusiveness into the design and switching to gender-responsive and accessibility standards.

 “These housing developments demonstrate how the industry can generate affordable and quality housing for low- to middle-income communities in Georgia and throughout the region.”- said Chakraborty.

 The ADB says that more than 80% of Tbilisi’s apartments were built during or before the Soviet era and needs to be replaced gradually.