Large-scale work is underway in Azerbaijan’s territories liberated from Armenian occupation [in the 2020 second Karabakh war] to restore and create the infrastructure necessary to revive these territories and allow the temporary IDPs to return there after the 30-year separation, Trend reports.
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with local TV channels, along with the above infrastructure projects, urban development projects will be also implemented this year.
The foundations of schools and hospitals have been already laid, the master plans of Aghdam and Fuzuli cities are ready, and agreements have been signed with relevant companies to develop master plans for other cities. The work on restoring the territories isn’t limited to the above work.
According to US expert Peter Tase, President Ilham Aliyev has always paid special attention to the execution of large strategic infrastructure projects in liberated territories.
Tase said that it’s encouraging and especially enlightening to see the rapid development of the infrastructure in the liberated territories.
“The International Airport in Fuzuli, Industrial Park in Aghdam, and many large highway projects that will connect seven liberated districts and increase the economic mobility as well as make Azerbaijan a highly developed country. This is the period of prosperity and rapid economic development in the history of Azerbaijan,” added the expert.
According to Stanislav Pritchin, senior researcher at the Center for Post-Soviet Studies of the National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO) under the Russian Academy of Sciences, restoration work in the liberated territories of Azerbaijan fits into the country’s development strategy, because the Chinese experience shows that investment in infrastructure is one of the most important factors in the development of the economy and GDP.
Azerbaijan creates opportunities for the economic growth of the country as a whole by investing in transport and energy infrastructure in the liberated territories.
“These are the conditions for economic activity in this region. Accordingly, new enterprises and new value-added products appear, and all this globally affects the country’s economy as a whole and its development,” Pritchin concluded.
According to President Ilham Aliyev, people who are about a return to the newly rebuilt liberated territories must be provided with the best conditions. “Therefore, we should not waste any time but we should not do things in haste either,” the president said.
Namely, for this purpose that Azerbaijan constantly takes measures to develop international cooperation on reconstruction projects, the laying of new infrastructure facilities continues, roads are being rebuilt, and the work on clearing mines [planted by Armenian armed forces in the previously occupied areas] doesn’t stop.