The process of preparation of the Master Plan of Baku city with participation of experts from leading international urban planning companies and local agencies is continuing in accordance with the planned timetable. The next meeting of the Interagency Working Group established by the State Committee for Urban Planning and Architecture was held on October 9 with the aim to coordinate the parties involved in the work process.  

Welcoming the participants, Deputy Chairman of the State Committee for Urban Planning and Architecture Dovlatkhan Dovlatkhanov highly appreciated the activity of state bodies, made proposals at the last meeting of the Working Group on September 18 and thanked the group members for their effective cooperation in planning future development of Baku. The Deputy Chairman noted that the results of preliminary reviews and constructive discussions of relevant strategic projects on "Forming a Multicenter Nuclear City", "Public Transport Networks to Provide Population" and "Strategic Urban Economy" presented by experts at the last meeting are important. He highlighted the importance of discussing these strategic issues within the working group meetings with the participation of relevant government officials, and presented the agenda and new topics for discussion.

Then, the winner of an international tender organized by the Committee for preparation of the Master Plan of Baku city, the representative of the AS + P urban planning company, Frank Höf, made a presentation to discuss several more urban development ideas and solutions based on Baku's development priorities. Presentations of urban planning covered such topics as (1) “Creating a favorable engineering communication infrastructure”, (2) “A city with sustainable ecology,” (3) “Cultural Heritage and New Urban Economy”.

The Working Group meeting then continued in three parallel sessions with the participation of representatives of organizations specializing in each of the mentioned topics. The sessions, led by the officials of the State Committee for Urban Planning and Architecture and BCG consultants, were followed by detailed discussions on proposed views and solutions on all three topics, and feedback from relevant government agencies. At the same time, a discussion and preliminary assessment of some strategic projects presented at the meeting, which will play a role in the implementation of the Master Plan of Baku city, will serve the sustainable and systematic development of the city in the short and long term.

It should be noted that the first meeting of the Working Group was held in June this year and the activities of the Committee on the development of the Master Plan of Baku city on the instructions of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mr. Ilham Aliyev, organization of information exchange between government agencies and future development of the city. It involves combining efforts in accordance with a unified approach to large-scale planning.

The next meeting to be carried out in November will be held in the form of a Strategic Session and will be devoted to the discussion of the selected portfolio of strategic projects.