Azerbaijan, Baku, July 12 /Trend, U.Ismayilova/
The Regional Development of Greater Baku project will cover approximately 280,000 hectares, which includes the Absheron Peninsula, the administrative territory of Baku (including Garadag district), Sumgait, Khirdalan and part of the Absheron district, the leader of team managing the project Novruz Eldarli said on July 12.
He said the project represents a fundamental conceptual document, which would reflect the concept development scheme for perspective, which will serve as the main program for future general plans and projects for detailed planning.
"Many people understand the word "development", development of new lands. But it is not so, said Eldarli. The word "development" means not only new lands, but also the reconstruction of existing settlements, re-building, improving the environmental component that is today especially important for Baku.
"The main goal of the Regional Development Plan up to 2030 is to create and implement management mechanism of the urban development process in Baku, adopt and approve main transport scheme of Greater Baku, implement environmental rehabilitation of the Absheron Peninsula in land, air and water areas," Eldarli said.
Head of management team believes that it is very important and necessary project for the state. As in any project, first of all, it needs to consider the history of this issue. In Azerbaijan, this time coincided with the colonial period and therefore the formation of cities, their system and the principle of development actually copied the principles, first in tsarist Russia, and later the Soviet Union. This explains why, in particular, Baku is not similar to other eastern cities, and other cities of Azerbaijan has not got face of full modern cities, remained at the level of agricultural settlements.
Today, when Azerbaijan regained its independence, it is necessary to, first of all, develop a new urban development managing system because firstly: Azerbaijan is a new state with its own legal system, and secondly: in the absence of purely Azerbaijani traditions of urban development in the 19th and 20th centuries, it is necessary to develop a modern, scientific system of settlement of towns in Azerbaijan.
According to him, at the end of 19th century and in the 20th century, general plans were developed for the construction and improvement of cities. General plan is the main town planning document, which regulates planning and development of cities, industrial and functional areas, transportation and engineering, as well as the principles of environmental protection. General plans were relevant and necessary for urban areas of up to 50,000 hectares, but today the plan began to grow to 100,000 hectares, and even the 200,000 hectares. Today the territory of Baku in the administrative borders is estimated at 213,000 hectares. On this territory it is unrealistic to project every building and construction.
Plans for development are prepared for such large territories. The goals of the development plans include: elaboration of major transport schemes, regional development (functional importance of land), activities for environmental improvement, said Eldarli.
The last major plan for Baku was adopted in 1987. Meanwhile, the Azerbaijani government, through the Azerbaijani Committee on Architecture and Town Building and with loans from the World Bank, completed the project on drafting a regional development program for Greater Baku. The project includes the prospective development of Baku, Sumgayit and the Absheron region as a whole in the subsequent 20 years. Similar projects have been implemented in some countries of Eastern Europe. However, none of them covered the capital along with its suburbs, with a population of over 3 million people. The project will involve new technology, such as the use of a geographic information system.