Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

Residential construction, one of the fastest growing industries in Azerbaijan over the past decade, is in the focus of the government to ensure quality and efficiency of the realized projects.

The country’s construction industry was tasked to expand production and raise the quality of domestic building materials to ensure the growth of the sector.

Emergency Situations Minister Kamaladdin Heydarov, who met with entrepreneurs on February 16, said local products should be as qualitative as the imported ones, adding that “businessmen need to produce qualitative products favored by the market.”

Companies engaged in the production of building materials in Azerbaijan produced goods worth 433.7 million manats (about $272 million) in 2015, which is more by 6.3 percent than the figure in 2014, the State Statistics Committee reported.

Azerbaijan, with the population of more than 9.6 million people, produced 2.94 million tons of cement, 687 tons of fiberglass, 195,500 tons of stucco, 474,700 tons of asphalt and 10,770 tons of processed marble, travertine and alabaster last year.

The minister added that several buildings were commissioned without undergoing the appropriate expertise.

“Some entrepreneurs have handed over the buildings without examination by the relevant state structures. These buildings were put into operation without any checks, and their tenants complain about problems in the supply of electricity and gas,” he said.

The minister said that after the application of the e-registration system in the construction sector in the near future, all problems will be eliminated, adding that the system will operate on the principle of "a single window".

“Problems that arose in the construction sector while obtaining technical specifications for supply of water, gas, and electricity will be resolved gradually,” the minister explained.

Last year, there were commissioned more than 1.93 million square meters of housing and this is 12.3 percent less than in 2014.

The minister further stressed the necessity to revive the construction sector in Azerbaijan, adding that investing in this sector is beneficial both for entrepreneurs and for the opening of new jobs.

Heydarov is sure that the construction sector will not encounter any obstacles anymore. He noted that local executive bodies will not be allowed to make decision on construction work, saying that the constriction work in the country can be suspended only by a court decision.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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