Azerbaijan discloses amount spent by State Oil Fund for refugees, IDPs

Baku, Azerbaijan, March 1

By Maksim Tsurkov – Trend:

From 2001 up to now, the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) allocated 2,102.7 million manats to improve the social conditions of refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs), SOFAZ told Trend and Azernews March 1.

The improvement of social conditions of refugees and IDPs is SOFAZ’s flagship project.

SOFAZ paid 105 million manats within the project in 2017.

In total, funds were allocated for construction of 71 residential blocks of private houses, 16 residential blocks with 202 high-rise buildings, in which it is possible to settle 32,480 families, SOFAZ said.

Moreover, the funds were spent for construction of 76 schools, seven music colleges, 55 community centers, 63 administrative buildings, 60 kindergartens, 17 medical centers, five hospitals, as well as 49 crossings, 773 kilometers of highways, 870 kilometers of water pipelines, 1,640 kilometers of transmission lines, 436 kilometers of gas pipelines, and 84 kilometers of sewerage lines.

“Meanwhile, 745 high-voltage electric transformers, 30 electric substations, 241 artesian wells, 212 reservoirs and 86 pumping stations were commissioned and an irrigation system was created on an area of ​​11,310 hectares," SOFAZ said.

“The endemic poverty among refugees and IDPs decreased from 75 percent in 2003 to less than 12 percent,” SOFAZ said.

(1.7001 AZN = $1 on March 1)