BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 6. The "First State Program for the Great Return to the Liberated Territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan" envisions return of 34,600 families by the end of 2026, Special Representative of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan for the liberated territories (except the Shusha district) in the Karabakh economic region Emin Huseynov said, Trend reports.
According to Huseynov, in connection with the above issue, a specific list of cities, villages, and settlements to be restored has been prepared.
One of the most important components of this process is the construction of "smart villages" and "smart cities", he explained.
"As is known, the first such village, Aghali, was built and handed over to residents in the Zangilan district, where families are already living. The next such village, Dovlatyarli, will be constructed in the Fuzuli district at the expense of Azerbaijan's own resources," he noted.
According to him, the design work in Dovlatyarli village is already under completion. Earthwork will begin within a month, and the state procurement procedure has already started.
"A third similar project will be implemented in Bash Garvand village of the Aghdam district. Unlike the previous two projects, the planning of this village will be carried out by Slovak specialists," the official said. "Undoubtedly, this project will be funded by the Azerbaijani state. The 'smart' solutions that will be applied there are highly efficient and have been used worldwide. This is one of the innovations in the restoration process."
"Within the framework of the project, based on the concept of a 'smart village' the plan is to rebuild a village covering a total area of 470 hectares. It's planned to return 5,500 people there at on the first stage, and 1,170 people on the second stage. Initially, 917 families, and in the following stage - 600 families will be returned to the village," Huseynov noted.
He added that another aspect that increases the significance of this project is the location of Bash Garvand village on the so-called former line of contact [which existed during the village's Armenian occupation until the 2020 second Karabakh war end], in a heavily mine-contaminated area.
The special representative of the head of state expressed hope that the project in the village of Bash Garvand will be completed in the near future.
Bash Garvand was liberated from Armenian occupation as a result of the second Karabakh war.
The Chairman of Slovakia's National Council Boris Kollar said during his visit to Baku that the country has developed a 'smart village' project for Bash Garvand village.