Azerbaijani president tours several districts to inaugurate new projects

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on August 7 toured four districts of the country to inaugurate new roads, school buildings, and a military base, to mention but a few.

On the first leg of his four-district tour to the nation’s western Gazakh District bordering Armenia, the president inaugurated the reconstructed Garapapag-Chayli road.

Briefing the president on the activities implemented, Chairman of the Board of the State Agency of Azerbaijan Automobile Roads Saleh Mammadov said the 19-km Garapapag-Chayli road, connecting three residential settlements, facilitated the commuting for over 14,000 people, passenger, and cargo transportation, Azartac news agency reported.

Saleh Mammadov also updated the president on a Farahli road reconstruction project that branches off at the 13th section of the Gazakh-Yukhari Askipara road with 5.8 meters in width.

In a similar vein, the Azerbaijani president viewed the Gazakh Teachers' Seminary ADA University Gazakh Center, where Rector of the ADA University Hafiz Pashayev briefed the president on the history of the Seminary and conditions available there. The Heydar Aliyev Foundation, Azerbaijan Employers’ Confederation, and Azerbaijan Society of America were involved in the reconstruction that was kicked off in October 2021.

The ADA University is planning the construction of a New School for 10-11th graders, the opening of several bachelor’s specializations, and the establishment of a college, Pashayev said, adding that the historical building of the Gazakh Teachers' Seminary houses the ADA University Gazakh Center. In total, 127 students will study at the Center.

Another inauguration was the launch of the water supply and sewerage systems in the city of Gazakh with the Azerbaijani leader in attendance, where Chairman of the Azerbaijan State Water Reserves Agency Zaur Mikayilov informed the head of state of the work done under the project.

The project is part of the “National Water Supply and Sanitation in six districts in Azerbaijan” program jointly financed by the government of Azerbaijan and the Islamic Development Bank.

The project is designed to improve the use of drinking water supply and sewerage services for 26,000 people in the city of Gazakh, taking into account the prospective development until 2035. The implementation of the “Reconstruction of drinking water supply and sewerage systems of the city of Gazakh” project started in 2019.

A 119-kilometer water distribution network was built in the city. An 83-kilometer-long sewerage network and a 3.8-kilometer-long sewerage collector were constructed.

The Azerbaijani president also inaugurated the Venzana furniture factory in Gazakh, where he got updates on the work done there. The Venzana furniture factory was created by Saloglu furniture manufacturer with a 10 million manat soft loan from the Entrepreneurship Development Fund. The company imported 8.4 million manat worth of equipment and was exempted from taxes and tariffs in the amount of 1.8 million manats.

Founded in 2016, the factory covers a total area of 18,000 sq. m. to put out 12,000 pieces of bedroom and 6,000 dining room furniture. The company plans to export its products to Russia, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Germany, and other countries. After the launch of the factory, the number of Saloglu company’s employees will come to 600. The investment in the factory amounted to 30 million manats.

As a follow-up to the project, the company is planning to open 4 new factories worth 27.2 million manats in an area of 20 hectares. The project, which aims to meet the country’s need for raw materials, is scheduled to be completed in 2025.

The president also inaugurated the 102 km-long Ganja-Gazakhbayli section upgraded as part of the “Project to widen to 4 lanes of the Ganja-Gazakh-Georgia state border section (130.15 km) of the Baku-Gazakh-Georgia state border highway”.

Another leg of the president’s tour was Shamkir District, where inaugured the Muhammad Fuzuli new building of the secondary lyceum school with humanities and natural orientation in the city of Shamkir.

The secondary lyceum school with humanities and natural orientation, operational since 1958, has been completely rebuilt. The 1,600-seat school has 65 classrooms, physics, chemistry, and biology laboratories, a library, a canteen, an assembly hall, and a gym.

In Samukh, the president attended the opening of a new building of the district central hospital. The construction of the Samukh District Central Hospital started in 2019 and ended this August. The 90-bed hospital occupies an area of two hectares. The three-storey building is supplied with state-of-the-art equipment manufactured in Japan, the Republic of Korea, Italy, and Türkiye.

Ilham Aliyev further attended the inauguration of a new building of the Serkar village children's music school constructed in Samukh as part of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation`s “Support for Education” project.

The construction of the 300-seat new school began in July 2021 with Heydar Aliyev Foundation’s funding and was completed later in November. The total area of the 3-storey school is 2,500 square meters. The school houses 29 classrooms, orchestra, chorus and medical rooms, locker room, canteen, and assembly hall.

The next destination of the president was Barda District, where he inaugurated the Karabakh Regional DOST Center and Karabakh Regional Vocational Training Center under the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Population.

Minister of Labor and Social Protection of Population Sahil Babayev informed the president of the work done at the center. The four-storey Karabakh Regional DOST Center will employ 123 people, including 50 volunteers. It is planned to provide services to 650-700 citizens per day.

President Ilham Aliyev also familiarized himself with the Karabakh Regional Vocational Training Center with 7 workshops, 8 classrooms and instruction rooms, a Vocational and Career Planning Center, and administrative and technical rooms.

It is planned to train 300 people at a time, including 1,200 people a year at the center. The Karabakh Regional Vocational Training Center will employ 20 people.