Azeravtoyol Built Two Pedestrian Crossings from Nowhere to Nowhere

Baku / 25.06.20 / Turan: Azeravtoyol LLC regularly reports on large-scale works on the construction of new and repair of old roads. Azeravtoyol built excellent autobahns in some road sections, and there are worse roads in other sections, or new asphalt is quickly collapsing - there are a lot of publications about this in the Azerbaijani press. One of these was published in Turan: "How to get along the new road between two pillars?"

In this publication of July 24, 2019, the question was raised about the effectiveness of budget spending in Azeravtoyol LLC, using the example of building a road in the Gakh region of Azerbaijan. A year passed, but no response from LLC was received.

The problem remains relevant, as new facts come to light on which the indicated LLC should give clarification. The photo taken on June 18, 2020 by our correspondent shows a metal elevated pedestrian crossing built in the Gobustan district of Azeravtoyol LLC in 2017 or 2018. The fact that this LLC is building seven such crossings on the Gobustan section of the Shamakhi-Baku highway was reported by the LLC website in July 2017. The report indicated the construction of seven identical prefabricated metal ground crossings in Gobustan. These passages are two-span, at an altitude of 5.5 m from the ground, the width of the gallery is 3 meters, and the length along with flights of stairs is 35.5-46.7 meters, depending on the width of the highway.

Five crossings were built in close proximity to the settlements of Mushvigabad, Zairli, Jangi, Arabu and Narimankend. And two passages, one of which you see in the photograph, are collected “in an open field”, that is, there are no settlements near the two flights of stairs of these passages at a distance of several kilometers. For whom were these crossings built, and who walks along them if no one lives on either the right or the left of them?

The fact that the two crossings were built away from towns and villages can be seen in the official announcement on the construction of seven crossings in the Gobustan district. While the location of the five crossings in this message (on the website of Azeravtoyol LLC) is indicated with reference to the distance from Baku and the names of the nearest settlements, then two crossings are indicated as constructed "in the Gobustan region", at marks of 92.7 and 99 km from the capital of Azerbaijan.

Address of this message: http://www.aayda.gov.az/az/news/1069

On the website of Azeravtoyol LLC, the total cost of each crossing is not indicated, and on this corporate website you can find only information on the amounts allocated by the President for the work of this LLC - without specifying separately on roads, crossings, bridges, etc.

Pedestrian crossings in Russia that are similar in design features and materials used are being built at a price of 38 million rubles (pedestrian crossing in Kazan), or 928,246 manat.

Turan tried to ask about the purpose of the two pedestrian crossings in the Gobustan region, over the Baku-Shamakhi highway. An employee of the Public Relations Department of the LLC answered the phone at 10 a.m., June 22. The employee wrote down our questions and phone number and promised to transfer the questions to the management. We did not receive a response by 14.46 minutes of the same day. On the second call, the phone at the LLC was not picked up.

Therefore, we sent two questions to the LLC email address:

1. For whom were two ground pedestrian crossings built in the Gobustan region, at the levels of 92.7 and 99 km from Baku?

2. How many budget funds were spent on the construction of each crossing?

According to the law on mass media, a response must be submitted by the defendant no later than 24 hours, and according to the law on freedom of information - no later than 7 days.

We are waiting for an answer and we hope for the assistance of the Human Rights Ombudsman, who is authorized to monitor compliance with the law on freedom of information. Otherwise, the answer will be received in court. —0—