Two-thirds of Municipalities in Azerbaijan Have No Clear Boundaries

Only one-third of municipalities in Azerbaijan (578 of 1,607) have clearly defined borders, in spite of 16 years of experience.

As reporters were told yesterday by the deputy chairman of the State Committee for Property Affairs Rafig Jalilov, documents of 150 other self-governing bodies have been transferred to the parliament, and works are continued on land inventory accounting, which determines not only borders, but also the category of sites.

In turn, the head of the Center for Work with Municipalities under the Ministry of Justice of AR Mehdi Selimzadeh lamented the fact that most of the existing bodies do not have their own administrative buildings. The reason for the phenomenon is that they have sold a part of their structure in order to obtain benefits. "We have appealed to the State Committee for Land and Cartography with suggestions and recommendations on the approval of the rights to property and land of municipalities, but the problem is still not solved. This situation creates serious problems for the local authorities, as sales, taxes and fees are the main sources of municipal revenues," he said. --- 17D-