Azerbaijan to start building roads in liberated Kalbajar

22 February 2021 16:01 (UTC+04:00)

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By Vafa Ismayilova

Azerbaijan continues building infrastructure in its lands liberated from the Armenian occupation in 2020.

The government will start building roads in liberated Kalbajar in March, an official from the Azerbaijani State Agency for Automobile Roads has said.

At a briefing on the work done in 2020 and the challenges ahead, Chairman of the Board of the State Agency Saleh Mammadov said that the road is currently being designed.

"On the Azerbaijani president's instruction, a new road is being built for safe movement. The new road will run along the Ganja-Goygol route. The road Tartar-Aghdara-Kalbajar is still in use. The [new] road is being designed for about two months. The construction of the road will begin in March and it will be carried out jointly with a Turkish company," Mammadov said.

He added that two Turkish companies are participating in the construction of the road from Fuzuli region to the city of Shusha.

The official noted that the State Agency has on its balance 2,661 kilometres of roads and 90 bridges on the liberated territories.

According to him, in total, there are nearly 17,543 kilometres of roads and 1,316 bridges on the agency’s balance.

"Of the total number of highways, the share of countrywide-importance roads is 4,385 kilometres, and of local importance - about 13,158 kilometres," added the source.

Kalbajar was among seven Azerbaijani regions that got occupied by the Armenian armed forces during the first Karabakh war. Azerbaijan regained control over the region as a result of a peace deal signed by Baku, Moscow and Yerevan to end the 44-day war in November 2020.

As a result of Armenia's occupation, 511 people were killed and 321 people were captured and went missing. Armenian occupiers destroyed more than 500 industrial, construction, catering and retail facilities, 97 schools and 76 health facilities. Kalbajar region’s 53,340 residents became IDPs.