Azernews.Az

By Nazrin Gadimova

The Greater Baku Regional Development Plan was submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers of Azerbaijan and agreed by all the Ministries.

Deputy Chairman of the Azerbaijani State Committee for Architecture and Urban Planning Dovletkhan Dovletkhanov announced the news on November 8.

"In fact, the work has already been completed," he said. "As soon as a decision on the discussion of the project is made, we will conduct a presentation and then the government will make a decision. If it [the government] considers the project satisfactory, then after a few months the project will be prepared for submission to the executive branch, because the main beneficiaries of the project are the local executive authorities of Baku, Sumgait, and the Absheron region."

Azerbaijan and the World Bank signed a loan agreement to develop the Greater Baku Regional Development Plan in 2007.

The plan, which was designed for the period up to 2030 and beyond, has been developed through coordination with Baku State Design Institute.

According to preliminary estimates, the average cost of the Greater Baku Regional Development Plan may reach 4-5 billion manats (over $6.3 billion).

Under the Plan, the city's streets and roads will be wider by hundreds of kilometers, the number of polluted lakes will be significantly reduced, and parks and public gardens will be created in an area of 34,000 hectares.

The project sketches were prepared jointly with consultants on issues of economic development (US specialist Kay Miller), environmental issues (the Spanish company Eptisa), and urban planning (Italian Angelo de Urso).

The Plan envisions the future development of the city with its 11 surrounding areas, Sumgayit, the country's third largest city, and the entire Absheron Peninsula till 2030.