Buzovna Is Still Waiting for Answers: Ombudsman Takes Complaint Under Review, but Environmental and Road Problems Remain Unresolved

Traffic in central Buzovna continues to be shaped by the consequences of an accident that has formally been resolved. The groundwater leak has been stopped, but the damaged road has not been restored. For nearly a month, buses and cars have been forced to bypass the closed section by using other streets in the settlement.

Signs of non-compliance with Azerbaijan’s urban-planning and construction legislation were identified during the installation of a groundwater-drainage pipeline.

Clause 7.0.6 of Article 7 of Azerbaijan’s Urban Planning and Construction Code identifies public disclosure as one of the fundamental principles of urban-planning and construction activity. Articles 25–27 require transparency in territorial-planning procedures, opportunities for citizens to submit comments and proposals, and advance notification of the objectives and anticipated effects of plans. These provisions, however, apply directly only when a project entails the preparation or amendment of territorial-planning documents.

A more specific violation concerns Clause 6.1.9 of the state construction standard AzDTN 1.6-2, “Organisation of Construction”. It requires the client to place an information board in a visible location before work begins. The board must identify the authority that issued the permit, the purpose of the project, the client, designer and contractor, and the construction timetable.

There was no such board in Buzovna. Residents were not informed about the project’s nature and purpose, its timetable, the client, designer, contractor or the authority that authorised the work. As a result, neither the Code’s principle of public disclosure nor the specific requirement of the construction standard was observed.

The experience of other projects undertaken by the Azerbaijan State Water Resources Agency, or ADSEA, adds to concerns that this area may also remain problematic. Weak transparency and public oversight, as well as the failure to restore damaged infrastructure promptly, increase the risk of further accidents and continued deterioration of the road.

The sewer line, allegedly installed illegally in 2024 for a facility belonging to the Azerbaijan Trade Unions Confederation, has become part of everyday life in the settlement. The asphalt along the line is subsiding and collapsing, while damaged sections remain unrepaired for months. A heavy smell spreads from the manholes. Residents cover the gaps with whatever materials they can find in an effort to protect their yards and homes from the stench.

Meanwhile, water of unknown origin reaches the coast every day, flooding part of the area. No one has publicly explained whether it is groundwater, technical water or sewage. Nor have the results of laboratory tests been released to show whether the water poses a threat to people or the marine environment.

Behind what appear to be local problems — a damaged road, the smell of sewage and a flooded beach — lies a more serious question: what happens when several state institutions are connected to the same problem, but none accepts responsibility for resolving it?

Nearly three months of official appeals have produced no result. The complaint over the agencies’ silence is now under the supervision of Azerbaijan’s Ombudsman’s Office. For Buzovna residents, however, the central facts remain unchanged: the road is damaged, the origin of the water on the beach has not been established, and the legality and safety of the sewer line have not been explained.

Five Institutions and Not One Substantive Answer

On May 25, acting under the Law on Access to Information, I submitted a request to five institutions: the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, the Azerbaijan State Water Resources Agency, the State Committee for Urban Planning and Architecture, the Azerbaijan Trade Unions Confederation and the Khazar District Executive Authority.

The first official appeals had been submitted on April 4. They concerned the construction of a sewer line in Buzovna, damage to road infrastructure, possible environmental pollution and the suspected discharge of wastewater into the Caspian Sea.

At the centre of the case is a sewer line installed by ADSEA for a facility belonging to the Trade Unions Confederation. The legality of the construction, the quality of the work and its possible environmental impact have yet to receive a public, documented assessment.

The May 25 request contained specific questions. On what basis was the sewer line built? Who prepared and approved the project? Were technical and environmental assessments conducted? Who supervised the quality of the work? Who is responsible for restoring the damaged road? Was the water reaching the coast tested?

The institutions were also expected to provide information about internal investigations, assessments of the conduct of responsible officials and the possibility of commissioning an independent technical and environmental examination.

None of the five recipients replied.

As a result, the public still does not know who authorised the construction, whether the work complied with the approved design, who conducted technical supervision or whether the situation poses a threat to residents’ health and the Caspian coast.

This is not a private dispute between owners of neighbouring properties or an isolated utility accident. The questions concern a public road, sewer infrastructure, the sanitary safety of a residential area, the condition of the beach and possible pollution of the sea.

That is why the silence of government institutions has become a separate part of the problem.

Complaint to the Ombudsman

After the statutory deadlines expired, a complaint was submitted on June 23 to Azerbaijan’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Sabina Aliyeva, concerning state bodies’ failure to provide information and the violation of the right of access to it.

The complaint said that the absence of responses, as well as formal or incomplete letters, obstructed the exercise of rights guaranteed by Azerbaijan’s Constitution.

Article 50 of the Constitution establishes everyone’s right to lawfully seek, obtain, transmit and disseminate information. Article 57 guarantees citizens the right to appeal to state bodies and receive a reasoned response.

The appeal also referred to possible violations of the Law on Access to Information: the principle of openness, an information holder’s obligation to provide information in full, the deadlines for considering requests and the prohibition of unjustified refusal or evasion of a response.

In Buzovna, however, access to information is directly connected to safety.

Article 39 of the Constitution guarantees the right to live in a healthy environment. The Aarhus Convention, to which Azerbaijan is a party, provides for the public’s right to obtain environmental information and participate in decisions that may affect the environment.

If water of unknown origin reaches the beach every day and then flows into the sea, information about its composition cannot be treated as secondary administrative data. It directly concerns public health, the sanitary condition of the coast and the environmental security of the Caspian Sea.

I asked the Ombudsman to accept the complaint for consideration, conduct an investigation, request explanations and documents from the five institutions, facilitate the receipt of comprehensive answers and provide a legal assessment of the conduct of the officials concerned.

If the facts were confirmed, it was proposed that formal submissions be sent to the relevant authorities to remedy the violations and hold those responsible to account.

The Ombudsman’s Office said the appeal had been placed under review. The government institutions, however, have still not answered the questions on their merits.

One Leak Has Been Stopped, but Its Consequences Remain

The elimination of the groundwater leak in central Buzovna shows that state and municipal bodies are capable of acting when a specific decision is made.

Yet even this work has not been completed.

The road damaged by the leak and subsequent work has remained partly destroyed for nearly a month. Buses and cars continue to take detours. Residents lose time every day, traffic has shifted to neighbouring streets, and restoration remains unfinished.

The situation involving the sewer line is more complicated. It is necessary to establish not only the causes of the asphalt’s collapse but also the entire chain of administrative and technical responsibility.

Who commissioned the construction? Who designed and approved the project? Who issued the permits? Who performed technical supervision? Who accepted the facility for operation? Where is the wastewater being directed? Does the line comply with construction, sanitary and environmental standards?

Until these questions are answered, patching individual sections of asphalt risks becoming no more than a temporary measure.

If the surface is subsiding because of incorrectly installed pipes, leakage, inadequate soil compaction or breaches of backfilling procedures, the damage will continue. If the cause lies in the project itself, repairing isolated sections will not resolve the problem.

Water of Unknown Origin

Water whose origin has not been officially established appears every day on Buzovna beach.

For residents, this is not an abstract environmental threat: the water passes through a recreational area and reaches places close to where adults and children swim.

Samples must be collected, laboratory tests conducted and the results published to determine the degree of danger. At a minimum, the water should be tested for microbiological and chemical contamination. Its point of origin and route to the coast must also be established.

If tests have been conducted, the public has the right to see the results. If they have not, the authorities must explain why.

Until the origin of the water is established, a threat to swimmers, residents of nearby homes and the Caspian ecosystem cannot be ruled out. At the same time, it cannot be classified as sewage without laboratory confirmation.

State environmental monitoring, sanitary supervision and the public’s right to information are intended to eliminate precisely this kind of uncertainty.

Responsibility Divided Among Agencies

The Buzovna case shows how an administrative system can distribute powers among several institutions while leaving the final outcome effectively without anyone responsible for it.

The State Water Resources Agency is responsible for water and sewer infrastructure; the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources for monitoring possible environmental impacts; the State Committee for Urban Planning and Architecture for construction regulation; and the Khazar District Executive Authority for the condition of the area and the coordination of local services.

The Trade Unions Confederation, for whose facility the sewer line was installed, cannot remain a passive observer either.

Each of these institutions has its own area of responsibility. Residents, however, are not dealing with separate bureaucratic functions. They face their combined outcome: a damaged road, the smell of sewage and water of unknown origin on the beach.

In this case, the division of powers increasingly resembles the distribution of irresponsibility. One institution refers to another’s jurisdiction, the second cites a lack of technical authority, and the third points to the need for additional approval. Until this administrative circle is broken, the situation will not change.

What Must Be Published

Buzovna does not need more formal letters or notifications that an appeal has been forwarded from one institution to another.

It needs a single public, inter-agency response containing:

• documents identifying the client and detailing the design and approval of the sewer line and groundwater-drainage system;
• information about permits issued for the work;
• the results of technical and environmental assessments;
• information identifying who supervised and accepted the facility;
• test results for the water reaching the beach;
• a plan to eliminate the sewage smell;
• a timetable for restoring the damaged road surface;
• an assessment of the responsibility of the organisations and officials involved.

Publication of this information would make it possible to distinguish confirmed violations from assumptions, assess the environmental risk and determine what work is required.

Until the documents are disclosed, answers will continue to be replaced by the stench, subsiding asphalt and the flow of unidentified water.

Complaint Under Review, Problem Unresolved

A previous Turan article asked why government agencies and the trade unions continued to “play hide-and-seek”.

More than a month later, the question remains relevant. The only change is that the agencies’ silence is now officially under the supervision of the Ombudsman’s Office.

Placing a complaint under review, however, is not the same as restoring a violated right. That requires comprehensive answers, the publication of documents, proper testing, repair of the road and the elimination of possible sources of pollution.

The individuals and organisations whose decisions or inaction led to the current situation must also be identified.

Until that happens, Buzovna will remain in the strange gap between a formal state response and the absence of visible results. The leak has been stopped, but the road has not been restored. The complaint has been registered, but no answers have been provided. The sewer line is operating, but its legality and safety have not been explained. Water continues to reach the beach, but its origin remains unknown.

Buzovna is still waiting for the road to be repaired, the sewage stench to be eliminated, the water-test results to be disclosed and the central question to be answered: who is responsible for what is happening in the settlement?

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