AGHDAM, Azerbaijan, June 23. Master plan of Azerbaijan’s Aghdam city became the first among the approved master plans of cities on the territories liberated from Armenian occupation, Special Representative of the President of Azerbaijan in the liberated territories of the Karabakh Economic Region (except Shusha district) Emin Huseynov told Trend.
According to Huseynov, the master plan of Aghdam was presented at a meeting of President Ilham Aliyev with the public representatives of Aghdam district, and the foundation of the city was laid during his visit to Aghdam on May 28, 2021.
"It’s natural that Aghdam city is strategic both for its historical significance and geographical location. It’s located almost at the same distance from all the main regional centers of Karabakh. Historically, it was a very strong regional center. The Aghdam district has a strong potential in the field of agriculture, industry and processing industry,” he said. “Today, our main goal is to provide the central part having an area of 500 hectares from the total 2,000 hectares with all the necessary infrastructure for life to enable our citizens, former internally displaced persons, return to the city center in a short time.”
The special representative reminded that in order to implement this, first of all, de-mining work was started.
"Aghdam, as well as the Tartar, Fuzuli and Jabrayil districts are territories contaminated with both anti-personnel and anti-tank mines and unexploded ordnances, as the former line of contact between troops passed there. On the former line of contact five kilometers wide and 200 kilometers long, Armenia established a lot of mines,” Huseynov noted. “At the same time, the main difficulty there is not the number of mines, but the complicated conditions in this territory for its cleaning. A lot of engineering fortifications were built, many shrapnels and remnants of ordnances left there after the first and second Karabakh wars.”
“Due to all this, use of special equipment and dogs in the de-mining activities is quite limited. Despite these difficulties, our engineers show great dedication. By manually clearing the area from mines span by span, our sappers were able to lay special corridors 20 meters wide," he also said.
Huseynov noted that namely due to the mine problem power supply to Aghdam became possible later than in other liberated territories.
"The opening of the Aghdam-1 electrical substation by President Ilham Aliyev took place. It took about a year to provide Aghdam city with electricity. The de-mining work continues at a rapid pace. After the opening of special corridors, this work has accelerated even more,” the official said.
“One of the most important projects is the Barda-Aghdam road. The road has already been laid directly inside Aghdam city, and its asphalting is being carried out,” he further noted. “Work on the Barda-Aghdam-Khankandi railway is rapidly moving towards the city of Aghdam. Projects on main gas pipelines have been completed, and their laying will begin in the near future.”
“Our headquarters is located in Aghdam. We live and work there. In the shortest possible time, the design of the road and street network will be completed and the laying of internal roads and communication lines will begin [in the city]. Prior to this, implementation of a number of projects was commenced,” Huseynov pointed out.
“One of the most important projects in terms of jobs is the construction of the mobilization section of the Aghdam Industrial Park by the Ministry of Economy. Its construction has already been completed. Currently, companies which received resident status there have begun construction of their plants and factories," added the president’s representative.