Resurgent Aghdam - future transport and industrial hub of Karabakh Review by Caliber.Az

For the second year, Azerbaijan has been implementing a large-scale program to revive the territories of the Karabakh and East Zangazur economic regions liberated from occupation. The key task of the Great Return is the restoration of Azerbaijani towns destroyed by Armenian occupants, including Aghdam, which is to become the "industrial heart" of Karabakh. Extensive work has been carried out in recent months in the revitalised town of Aghdam and neighbouring villages, as well as in the industrial zone under construction nearby. During his visit to the Aghdam district on October 4, the head of state participated in the groundbreaking ceremony for several transport, residential, social, tourism, and agricultural facilities.

Liberated in late 2020, Aghdam was a horrifying sight: during the 27 years of the Armenian occupation, the city was completely destroyed, razed to the ground. Not a single intact building remained here, all the historical monuments, mausoleums, and cemeteries were demolished, trees and lampposts were uprooted, and even underground communications were destroyed. After the victorious 44-day war the consequences of the greatest humanitarian catastrophe of the end of the XX century were brought to the attention of foreign and local journalists, representatives of the United Nations, and other international organizations and diplomats. According to the general opinion of the representatives of the public, mankind had not faced such barbarism and cynicism of the occupants since World War II, and the ruins of the ghost town - Aghdam was rightly called the new Stalingrad or the Caucasian Hiroshima.

However, before the Armenian occupation, Aghdam with its ancient history was the second largest settlement in the western part of Azerbaijan after Ganja (the status of the city was given to Aghdam in 1828). There were 138 villages and settlements in the district of Aghdam, and about 160 thousand people resided in the administrative centre and its suburbs. Key transport communications of the republic passed through Aghdam; there was an airport and a railway station. It was also one of the leading industrial centres of South Caucasus: in the town and its surroundings were located plants of machine tools, aerospace vehicles, communication systems, methinks hardware, tractor and truck repair shops, and asphalt production, several canning factories, as well as a cheese-oil, silkworm, cotton, carpet-weaving factories. There were a grain factory, a meat factory, a building materials factory, the republic's biggest cold storage facilities, and most importantly, 17 wineries, whose products were well known and in demand throughout the Soviet Union.

It is already two years since Aghdam was liberated from the occupation and during this relatively short period large-scale demining works were carried out, power, transport, and communal infrastructure was formed, construction of the first houses, social and administrative buildings began, and the foundation of the future industrial cluster was laid. President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva paid a visit to the Aghdam district recently to get acquainted with reconstruction and construction works and take part in the groundbreaking ceremony of a number of transport, industrial and social facilities.

The head of state participated in the foundation laying of a railway and bus station complex in Aghdam, designed to serve around 1,000 and 1,500 passengers a day respectively. The foundation-stone laying of a network of internal roads and communications of Aghdam was also attended by President Ilham Aliyev. According to the project, the total length of internal roads in the first and second categories will be 191.1 km, and the first stage will involve 121 km of roads.

On the same day, a residential quarter for 470 flats for former internally displaced persons was built in Aghdam, for which a land plot of 6.9 hectares in the northeast of the city was allocated. A historical area called "Imaret" is located nearby, where also 4-7 storey residential buildings are planned to be built - in total 1139 flats, where 3068 people are planned to live. The town-planning concept of Aghdam provides for the creation of a "green energy" zone, in particular, renewable energy sources (RES) will be used in the power supply of buildings in the new quarter of Aghdam.

Even before housing construction started, power transmission lines and substations were laid to Aghdam, and the main gas pipeline is being built. The process of rehabilitation of the water infrastructure of Aghdam and four nearby villages as well as the industrial zone nearby is underway. The construction of the pipeline network has begun in the district, three exploration wells have been drilled, and in total, 24 sub-artesian wells will be drilled to provide the population with qualitative drinking water. Water extracted from sub-artesian wells will be accumulated in reservoirs located on the highest point of the district and delivered to Aghdam and other settlements via gravity flow through the pipes. Also as part of the Ağıllı su Programme, the design of the future Aghdam water distribution network and wastewater and rainwater sanitation system has been developed, which will be monitored and controlled by an automated SCADA system. In the future, wastewater will be used for irrigation after treatment in a biological plant with a capacity of 30 thousand cubic meters per day.

At the same time, the construction of a hospitality facility started in Aghdam: with the participation of the President of Azerbaijan, the foundation stone of the five-storey Aghdam City Hotel was laid, which will have 130 rooms, as well as a meeting room, banquet hall, fitness and spa centres, a restaurant and an outdoor terrace.

Along with the future administrative centre of the Aghdam district, the villages in the vicinity are also being actively restored, some of which have also been visited by the head of state. In particular, in the coming days works on the restoration of villages Kangarli, Khidirli, and Sarijali, located a few kilometres from Aghdam will begin. The total territory of these three villages exceeds 697 hectares, and in the first phase (tentatively by April 2024), it is planned to build here about 1220 private houses. In view of the plans envisaging the resettlement of around 10,000 people in the villages, all conditions will be created here to provide employment for the population: schools and medical facilities, cultural and entertainment centres, and commercial and production facilities, primarily in the agricultural sector, will be created. The general plan of development of Aghdam city till 2040 was approved in August. According to the plan, the population of the city and the district of the same name would be about 100 thousand people.

One of the key points of the general plan is the development of the road infrastructure of the city and the transformation of the Aghdam district into the most important transport hub in the region. In particular, a 47.1-km railway line will be built from Barda to Aghdam, which will be put into operation in 2023. Two highways - 44-km Barda-Aghdam and 64.8-km Fuzuli-Aghdam highways - are also under construction. Construction of both four-lane highways of the first technical category began last year and is now nearing its final stage. On October 4, the head of state familiarised himself with the work being conducted on the Barda-Aghdam road, which is to be connected to the urban road network: around 75% of earthworks and construction works (bridges, overpasses, culverts and etc.) have been completed here and the asphalt-concrete cover is being laid.

According to the general plan, Aghdam will be revived as the biggest agro-industrial centre of the western part of Azerbaijan, production of raw materials and processing of agricultural products will be established here, production of construction materials and other industrial products will be mastered, and processing of mineral resources will be set up, etc. The industrial potential of Aghdam is oriented for export as well, and therefore the carrying capacity of railroads and roads is designed for additional loads.

The formation of an industrial base in the Aghdam region was launched with a decree of the head of state of May 28, 2021, which gave a start to the creation of the largest industrial zone in the country. Since then, demining, construction of access roads, laying communications, and so on have been carried out here. From August 2022 residents of the newly created Aghdam Industrial Park launched primary works aimed at implementation about 15 production projects here. Among other things, the business applications include the production of ventilation, fire-fighting equipment, and metal products, the production of concrete, maintenance of heavy machinery, as well as the restoration and manufacture of some metal spare parts, the production of orthopedic mattresses and upholstered furniture, sewage pipes, and drinking water. Moreover, the Azerbaijani authorities are ready to provide technical assistance to entrepreneurs who will invest in the construction of enterprises for the production and processing of leather, as well as broom and glazed tiles. Nine residents are currently registered in Aghdam Industrial Park, and they are expected to invest over 50 million manats in the cluster, creating over 1,000 jobs.

According to preliminary calculations, in the first phase of industrial zone development, it is planned to develop 76 hectares of territory and attract around 30-40 entrepreneurs, whose activities will be focused mainly on the production, processing, and logistics of building materials, packaging, agricultural products, including feed, wine, meat, and dairy products, fertilizers and other products with high export potential. The second stage will develop the rest of the territory of the industrial zone, attract investments worth 110 million manats and create thousands of new jobs.