BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 7
Trend:
I am sure that the gigantic infrastructure project, the Southern Gas Corridor with a length of 3,500 kilometers and connecting several countries, will be fully commissioned this year, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in his opening speech at the conference dedicated to the results of first year implementation of "The State Program on socio-economic development of the regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2019-2023", Trend reports.
“This will be our next historic victory,” the Azerbaijani president noted.
“We are seriously dealing with the implementation of infrastructure projects, in particular in the field of electricity,” said Ilham Aliyev. “Serious progress has been made in this area as well. I can say that last year we managed to obtain an additional 800 megawatts of electricity. Of these, 400 megawatts are due to the new "Shimal-2" station and the other 400 megawatts are the result of the restoration of lost capacity. These capacities were once lost due to improper operation of the stations. But this work is now under way and a significant part of the 400 megawatts was obtained due to repairs and restoration at the Mingachevir thermal power plant.”
“Of course, the lost power was also restored at other stations, which is how we received 400 megawatts,” the Azerbaijani president added. “This process continues. This year, generating capacity will be restored approximately at the same level. Today we have become an electricity exporting country.”
“The process of gasification has been continued,” said Ilham Aliyev. “Gas supply is available practically throughout the country. The level of gasification has reached 96 percent. This is one of the highest indicators on a global scale. A total of 1,300 kilometers of roads have been built with a plan of 1,000 kilometers. However, on the basis of the appeals I received during my visits to the districts over the year, as well as the letters people sent afterwards, we managed to build an additional 300 kilometers. In terms of the quality of roads, Azerbaijan today ranks 27th in the world, ahead of many developed countries. I am sure that we will go even further as a result of the forthcoming work.”
“Land reclamation measures also have an important place among infrastructure projects,” the Azerbaijani president noted. “Water is supplied to approximately 80,000 hectares. More than 300 sub-artesian wells have been drilled. This process will be continued this year.”
“These infrastructure projects were implemented through the state investment program,” said Ilham Aliyev. “This once again shows that favorable grounds are being created for the sustainable development of our country. All this work, as well as the reforms carried out, have certainly given a powerful impetus to the development of agriculture. Agricultural production has reached a record high compared to recent years. That is, growth rate exceeds 7 percent, in particular, growth in crop production amounted to more than 10 percent. The exports of our agricultural produce are growing. Domestic needs are met by local products because all these issues are closely interrelated.”
“Major projects were also implemented in the transport sector last year,” the Azerbaijani president added. “Among them, I want to specifically note the construction of a suburban railway line in Baku. We have restored the railway transport, which was once called the "electric train", at the most advanced level. We have delivered trains produced by the leading company. Railway stations have been built in suburban settlements, and this process will be continued. The main stage of construction of the suburban railway will be completed this year, i.e. the ring will close.”
“Following this, there are plans to build railway to settlements where it is not available yet,” said Ilham Aliyev. “At the same time, reconstruction work is under way on the railways connecting us with our neighbors in order to increase their speed. We have largely achieved this, in particular, in the western direction. Preparations are under way for work to be carried out in the northern and southern directions, and this process will go even faster this year.”
“Of course, noting the successes of the past year, we must definitely mention the TANAP project reaching the border with Europe,” noted the Azerbaijani president. “This is a historic event, a historic project. TANAP, which is the main part of the Southern Gas Corridor, has been practically commissioned in full. At a ceremony held on the Turkish-Greek border in November last year, we celebrated a complete commissioning of this project. Prior to that, we had celebrated TANAP reaching Turkey. This is a truly historic project. It determines the successful development and completion of the fourth segment of the Southern Gas Corridor – the TAP project. I am sure that this gigantic infrastructure project, the Southern Gas Corridor with a length of 3,500 kilometers and connecting several countries, will be fully commissioned this year. This will be our next historic victory.”
“Many other events happened last year,” Ilham Aliyev said. “It is impossible to mention them all now. I believe that the questions and figures I have mentioned provide enough information about the processes taking place in our country, and these are our successes. We must talk about these successes, promote them, but at the same time we cannot be content with them. We must always step up our efforts around unresolved issues, and we are doing that. Therefore, the main goal of this traditional conference is to sum up the work done and give impetus to the work to be completed during the year. We have been following this path since 2004. The first program adopted in 2004 was a historic event.”
“At that time, this program was an integral part of my election program,” noted the Azerbaijani president. “When I was first elected as president, I told citizens that if I was given confidence, I would seriously engage in regional development as well. Because I knew that the situation in the regions of Azerbaijan wasn't very good. There were, of course, natural reasons for that - the infrastructure was out of date, it was practically out of service, many enterprises had been shut down, agriculture was stagnant. Therefore, I believed that the regional development program would be a program that would give the main impulse.”
“In addition, most of the population of Azerbaijan lives in the regions, districts, villages,” Ilham Aliyev said. “It was necessary to improve their lives. Therefore, I want to say again: the adoption of this program was a historic event. Ever since that time, we have been annually discussing the implementation of this program. As I said, three programs have been adopted and implemented, and the fourth program is being implemented now.”