MANILA, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Friday approved a 233.2-million-U.S.-dollar loan to help expand access to reliable, safe water supply services in rural areas of Georgia.

The ADB said the results-based loan (RBL) -- Georgia: Clear, Local, Equitable Access to Reliable Water Program (CLEAR) -- aims to provide sustainable, resilient, and inclusive access to water supply services to people living in rural areas of Georgia.

At least 100 rural settlements across Georgia will benefit from the expansion and rehabilitation of water supply infrastructure, ensuring a continuous, reliable, and safe supply of drinking water.

"The extended support will improve living conditions and economic opportunities in rural areas of Georgia, which traditionally suffer from underinvestment in obsolete water systems dating back to the Soviet era," said ADB Country Director for Georgia Lesley Bearman Lahm.

The CLEAR program supports Georgia's effort to bridge the urban-rural gap in water supply services and to help address the sanitation agenda by developing a national strategy under the updated Water Supply and Sanitation (WSS) vision beyond 2030 for subsequent approval and implementation.

Apart from the construction and rehabilitation of climate- and disaster-resilient water supply infrastructure, water sector governance will also be enhanced by strengthening the capacity of executing and implementing agencies to plan and manage sustainable water supply projects.

The program improves climate resilience by diversifying water sources through more climate-adaptive and efficient distribution networks. ■