Beaches of Pirshagi captured by oligarchs?

The  Pirshagy beach in  Baku was anciently known for its wonderful sea and beach of fine sand. At the beginning of the 1990s these beaches were severely affected by predatory export of sand, as a  construction  material. Now  they are hosted by  other dealers, which  are enclosing kilometers of beach.

Each boss, in violation of laws, walls his "fiefdom" with  4-meter steel piles that go for tens of meters into the sea.  They have  built  villas on the beaches, and  now  they  are  capturing the sea.

On January 13, 2003 Heydar Aliyev signed a decree on measures for regulating the use of the Caspian coast. The document  reads that to ensure the right of citizens to have a rest on beaches, all the territories in 130 meter line from the sea, passed for lease to physical  and legal persons, shall be returned to the administrative or judicial ways. But very soon  they authorities understood first  they themselves will suffer. Therefore, five years later the Parliament decided to reduce  the  130 meter  zone "to 20-50 meters."  Certain amendments  were made to the Land Code, the Code of Administrative Offences, and the Law on Land Reform. After that, the law allowed the use of the coast for public purposes.

The executive authorities were given the right to  take on lease  20-50 meters of  sea line, or to fences it  under the condition "not to  restrict the movement of citizens."

It is easily seen how these laws  are compiled in the Absheron beaches. Tens of kilometers along the coast were captured,  and fenced with 8-10 meters high walls. Behind these walls  are multimillion villas, recreation centers, restaurants, etc.

Such lawlessness takes place in the villages of Bilge, Nardaran, Buzovna, Mardyakyan, Pirshagi,  and Novkhana.

In recent years tens kilometers  of coast  have  been captured, and are not available to citizens in  the Garadagh district.

The captured zones   are  expanding, depriving ordinary citizens from normal rest in the summer. For residents of Baku city beaches over 100 years have been the most accessible  form of  rest. -03B-