Azerbaijan, Baku, September 23 / Trend I. Khalilova /
Irrigation and Water Management of Azerbaijan has appealed to the Azerbaijani government to allocate funds for implementation of precautionary measures to prevent floods in the country, the company's first deputy chairman Mamedsadikh Guliyev said.
"More than 500 million manat is required to carry out protection works along the banks of the Araz and Kura rivers and rivers flowing into them. But we understand that it is impossible to allocate this sum at this time," Guliyev said.
He said that bank protection work must be carried out on more than 1.4 million kilometers of land.
"The company has completed work on an area of 50km," Guliyev said. "The dams along the banks of the Kura River in Sabirabad, Salyan, Neftchala, and Saatli are being restored to prevent mudflows. Those areas have the greatest risk of natural disaster."
State aid will be received to conduct similar activities in future. Only public funds are planned to be drawn because the procedures for obtaining foreign loans to conduct such work is very long, Guliyev said.
"It has proved possible to carry out bank operations along 50km by late 2010. The funds are expected to be received from the state budget," Guliyev said.
More than 40 regions have flooded this year. About 20,000 homes were flooded, 300 houses were destroyed, 2,000 homes were partially destroyed, and over 50,000 hectares of pasture were inundated.
As of Sept. 23, the official exchange rate is 0.803 manat to $1.