Roughly 4.5 bln manats directed to regions’ developments

/By AzerNews/

By Aynur Karimova

Azerbaijan allocated some 4.5 billion manats to the development of regions in 2014, Economy and Industry Minister Shahin Mustafayev said at a conference on the outcomes of the first year of implementation of the “State Program on socio-economic development of districts of the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2014-2018.”

“Last year the implementation of infrastructure projects, including the improvement of roads and transport infrastructure, energy, gas and water supply infrastructures in the regions was continued. During a year, 960 kilometres of roads of state and local purpose, 30 new bridges and passages were constructed and reconstructed. Construction and reconstruction of village roads with a total length of 1,300 kilometres, joining 597 residential points where 960,000 people live, was also continued,” the minister added.

He noted last year five power plants were commissioned, 3,000 kilometres of power transmission lines, 614 transformers, 20 substations, 1,450 kilometres of gas pipelines were constructed and reconstructed in the regions and some 58 residential points in 24 regions were supplied with gas.

In order to improve the quality of provided connection and information-communication services, some 26 new automatic telephone stations were put into operation, and 42 post offices were built and reconstructed.

“In the past year, 155 schools, 30 medical facilities, 11 youth and sport facilities, 43 cultural and other social facilities were built and reconstructed in the regions. Some seven new residential compounds were laid for internally displaced persons, living conditions of 4,450 families or 22,000 IDPs’ were improved and five residential buildings were constructed for disable persons and families of martyrs,” Mustafayev stressed.

He went on adding that in 2014, some 105 industrial facilities were constructed in the Azerbaijani regions. As a result of implemented works, the non-oil sector of the country increased by 9 percent.

“This year the creation process of local and foreign infrastructures in Sumgayit chemical-industrial park will be completed. Currently, some three residents have been registered in the park, and negotiations with two other residents are at the stage of completion. The total volume of investment in these projects is estimated at 650 million manats,” Mustafayev said.

In recent years, Azerbaijan’s dependence on import of several industrial products has decreased thanks to government’s support.

Mustafayev also noted tax incomes from the regions have increased by 9.8 percent. In the past year, some 123,000 new working places were created in the country.