Azerbaijan, Baku, May 10 / Trend, E. Ismayilov /
According to preliminary estimates, the expected cost of the Greater Baku Master Plan may cost as much as 4-5 billion manat by 2030, head of the State Committee for Urban Planning and Architecture Abbas Alasgarov told journalists today.
"The World Bank has come to a positive conclusion on the feasibility of the project," he said. "The next public hearing on the project will be held in June and July. As a result of the previous hearings, the project was changed slightly."
The project is being prepared together with U.S consulting group Kay Miller on economic development, Angelo de Urso of Italy on urban planning, Eptisa of Spain on environmental issues and Baki Dovlet Layihe Institutu design institute.
According to the plan, Baku's housing space will increase by 30 million square meters and will reach 65 million square meters by 2030. The city's population in this period will increase to 3.325 million people.
According to the plan, the city's road network will increase by hundreds of kilometers. The number of polluted lakes and plots of land will be reduced. Some 22,000 hectares of oil-fields will re-emerge as a forest park.
The new parks and public gardens will cover some 34,000 hectares.
Greater Baku will include Baku and 11 surrounding districts, as well Sumgayit, Absheron and Khirdalan. Its total area will be about 250,000 hectares.
The official exchange rate is 0.7845 AZN/USD on May 10.