SOCAR's Azerigas completes pipeline construction in Karabakh’s 24 settlements

In 2023, the “Azerigas” Production Union of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic completed the construction of gas pipelines in 24 settlements located in the liberated territories.

According to a report from SOCAR's annual activity report for 2023, these gas pipelines were developed as part of the implementation of the First State Programme for the "Great Return," Caliber.Az reports.  

The settlements are situated in the Aghdara, Aghdam, Fuzuli, Khojavend, Jabrayil, Zangilan, Gubadli, and Lachin regions.

Currently, Fuzuli, Lachin, as well as the village of Talysh in the Aghdara region and Zabukh village in the Lachin region, have access to natural gas.

Notably, Azerbaijan has launched one of its largest infrastructure initiatives, the "Great Return" programme, aimed at restoring and developing areas that returned to Azerbaijan following the Second Karabakh War.

The primary objective of this programme is to facilitate the safe and sustainable repatriation of internally displaced persons to their homelands, while also creating conducive living and working conditions and enhancing social and economic infrastructure.

The "Great Return" programme encompasses extensive efforts to rehabilitate infrastructure that was devastated during the protracted conflict. Significant investment is being made in the restoration and construction of new roads, bridges, and transport interchanges to ensure these regions are accessible.

The programme commenced in July 2022, with nearly 100 families relocating to the newly built Aghali settlement in the Zangilan district.

Since then, families have also returned to Fuzuli, Talish (a village near the town of Terter), and Lachin, as well as the neighbouring village of Zabukh.

By April 2024, over 6,500 people had returned, with approximately half settling in Fuzuli and more than 2,500 in Lachin/Zabukh. The goal is to facilitate the return of 20,000 individuals to five cities and 15 villages by the end of 2024, and even more ambitiously, 140,000 by late 2026.

By Aghakazim Guliyev