What Stands Behind Glossy Side of President"s Visit to Northwestern Region

Last weekend, President Ilham Aliyev paid a visit to three north-western regions of Azerbaijan, which suffered from an earthquake on May 7 this year.

Pro-government media have spoken only of the glossy side of the regional visit. The President was informed about the progress of recovery following the earthquake, and also took part in the opening ceremonies of a number of cultural, social, industrial and infrastructure projects in the region.

Aliyev managed to open four schools - two in Zagatala, one in Sheki and one in Gakh. Two of the four schools were built as part of the program and two others were rebuilt after the earthquake. But in the reports they were listed as objects built due to the earthquake. The earthquake affected a total of 32 schools. Of these, 30 are in various stages of construction and will be delivered by the school year.

As part of the "State Program on improvement of living conditions and employment of refugees and internally displaced persons," the President submitted a new settlement in the Sheki area, including 423 private houses for a total of 33.227 million manat. The average price of a three-room house was a record high and unprecedented for the construction market - 70,000 manat.

The President also attended the opening of a flour mill and granary in the village of Geybulag in Sheki, as well as the Sheki Palace Hotel, a monument to M.F. Akhundov and a park in Sheki, and a kindergarten in Zagatala. In Sheki he laid the foundation of the new Heydar Aliyev Fund and the Square of ??the Flag. Aliyev also visited the new private house built for resident, Abdullah Mammadov, of the village Gulluk in the Gakh district.

All in all, several thousand homes are to be built and about 10 thousand repaired. But today, only a few have been rebuilt and refurbished. The work is slow. According to Turan, the estimated cost of a two-room house is 37,000 AZN, and a five-room house is worth 60 thousand manat. However, the Ministry of Emergency Situations hides the estimated cost of the houses. Experience in the construction zone of the Kura flood in 2010 shows the construction price to be overestimated and almost doubled.

Formerly the headquarters of the Civil Society Kura expressed concern over the prevailing situation in the earthquake zone. -0 -