“Construction on a landmark new tram line in Tbilisi is officially underway,” Mayor Kakha Kaladze announced during the signing ceremony for the project’s design and construction contract.

The light rail route will link the densely populated Didi Dighomi district directly to the Didube metro station, with full project completion targeted within the next four years.

“Today is truly a remarkable day for our capital, as a contract for the design and construction of the Tbilisi tram line is being signed between the Tbilisi Transport Company and EYE, a Turkish joint venture comprising Emre Ray, Yüksel, and Erk. I remember the immense public reaction when I first announced the tram return. There was widespread joy, but also a completely natural question: when will this vision become reality? Today, we answer that very question, moving beyond rhetoric and promises into concrete action.

This holds profound significance for my team and me, because major infrastructure projects cannot be built on speeches alone; they require meticulous planning, financial backing, expert involvement, time, and, above all, the political will to see the task through to completion. Therefore, I wish first and foremost to express my gratitude to our political team, Georgian Dream, and to thank our Prime Minister, Irakli Kobakhidze, for his steadfast support.

The return of the tram carries deep symbolic resonance for Tbilisi. It marks the revival of a civic culture that was once an integral part of daily life for our older generations. Yet, we are not dwelling on the past. We are restoring the tram to build a modern transport network for Tbilisi’s future. Our transport strategy, initiated in 2017, serves precisely this purpose: to make transit across the city faster, more comfortable, safer, and accessible to all. Streets must serve pedestrians, public transport passengers, eco-transit users, and motorists equally.

We want citizens to choose public transport not because they lack alternatives, but because it is swift, comfortable, and dependable. The tram will become another vital pillar of this system. The line will connect Didi Dighomi with Didube metro station across three structured phases: conceptual design, detailed engineering, and civil construction. The combined duration of these three phases is 36 months, with the entire project scheduled for completion within four years once all accompanying procedures are factored in.

Naturally, a single tram line will not resolve all of Tbilisi’s transport challenges overnight, and I make no such claim. However, major transformations always begin with a single step. We intend for this line to serve as the foundation of a modern tram network and a new chapter in Tbilisi’s transit evolution. A demanding construction phase lies ahead, and a project of this magnitude inevitably brings some disruption. I want to reassure the people of Tbilisi today that my team and I will remain fully transparent at every stage, providing advance updates on construction and making every effort to minimise public inconvenience.

When a city builds for its future, temporary inconvenience is sometimes unavoidable; what matters is the enduring legacy left behind once the work is complete. Today, we are not merely signing a contract; we are launching a project destined to write a new page in Tbilisi’s transit history. I wish every success to the Turkish consortium, to our transport company, and to everyone involved in delivering this ambitious project. We promised the people of Tbilisi the return of the tram; today, we begin the concrete work to fulfil that promise. The next milestone will be the day the first tram carrying passengers departs along this line,” Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze stated.