Azernews.Az

By Leman Mammadova

The work is underway to transform Baku to an even more comfortable place for its residents and guests.

State Committee for Urban Planning and Architecture begins to accept projects within preparation of the master plan of Baku, said Samir Nuriyev, Chairman of the Committee.

“We have already started to accept projects. But, it seems to us that state bodies are more aware of various necessary projects. Therefore, we have created a special form for the reception of projects by government agencies,” he said.

Nuriyev added that these projects will be analyzed and included in the master plan if they comply with its main priorities.

Strategic projects will be prepared within the four main priorities that include balanced zoning of the city to ensure sustainable development and a gradual transition to the formation of alternative centers and sub-centers, regeneration of the environment, ensuring rational use of territories and comfortable life of the population, preserving the national cultural heritage and architecture of the city, enriching cultural life, and transition of the urban economy to the post-industrial period.

As previously reported, the State Committee for Urban Planning and Architecture attracted the influential consulting company Boston Consulting Group to cooperate on the preparation of the first stage of Baku’s master plan. The contract value was about 1.3 million euros.

The company helped to prepare the concept of development of Baku and to determine the priority directions of development.

Recently, German company AS+P won the tender for the development of the second phase of the master plan of Baku. At this stage, technical work will be carried out on strategic and multi-level planning of the city’s territory, as well as modeling on the main development indicators. The second phase development will last for the next 18 months.

AS+P is a leading urban planning and architectural company with extensive international experience and headquarters in the German city of Frankfurt. The company has successfully implemented over 2,000 projects in various countries around the world.

This is the fifth master plan of Baku so far. The first master plan was developed by the famous architect Nikolaus von der Nonne in 1898. In 1932, the capital's second master plan was developed. In 1964, the Council of Ministers approved the third master plan of the city. The latest master plan was approved by the decision of the Council of Ministers of the Azerbaijan SSR in 1986 and this document covers the period up to 2005.

The new master plan - "Greater Baku Regional Development Plan" - should cover the period up to 2035. The project sketches were prepared jointly with consultants on issues of economic development (U.S. specialist Kay Miller), environmental issues (the Spanish company Eptisa), and urban planning (Italian Angelo de Urso).

The "Greater Baku Regional Development Plan" and the "Land Use and Zoning Plan of Baku" projects were prepared in 2011-2014 in accordance with the loan agreement signed in 2007 between the Government of Azerbaijan and the World Bank.

The capital, attracting large businesses and foreign investors thanks to the dynamic development, is becoming increasingly popular as one of the major cities for business and living, recreation and entertainment.

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Leman Mammadova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @leman_888

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