On 24 January 2019, the State Committee on Urban Planning and Architecture of the Republic of Azerbaijan held the expanded collegial meeting dedicated to the results of its activity in 2018.

In his opening speech, Chairman of the State Committee on Urban Planning and Architecture Samir Nuriyev stressed that Azerbaijan had ensured its socio-economic development, thus achieving a significant advancement in multiple sectors, including the construction sector. This is the result of the consistent and systemic reforms conducted in all areas under the leadership of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mr. Ilham Aliyev and the implementation of a modernized approach to the political and economic management. As one of the largest sectors of the economy, the construction sector's development primarily serves the purpose of improving the housing conditions and community amenities for the population, thus largely contributing to social life. The overall housing area built in 2018 exceeded the 2017 indicators by 3,3% and totaled 2 084 700 square meters, the Committee Chairman noted.

Samir Nuriyev said that the implementation of this policy by the head of the state brings about positive results, including the establishment of appropriate conditions for entrepreneurship in Azerbaijan and the introduction of positive changes in this area. These positive developments are duly considered by international organizations and leading rating agencies. The implemented reforms ensured the promotion of Azerbaijan’s rating to a record level by the World Bank “Doing Business 2019” report and led to the improvement of the majority of other indicators. Thus, Doing Business 2019: Training for Reform, a World Bank Group flagship publication, has ranked Azerbaijan one of the 10 economies with the most notable improvement in the world and declared that Azerbaijan implemented a record number of reforms among the 10 top improvers globally. Azerbaijan climbed 32 spots in comparison with 2017 to rank 25th among 190 states this year, topping CIS counties. According to the new Report, Azerbaijan also implemented a significant improvement by climbing 100 spots in the area of providing "Construction permits."

The Committee Chairman mentioned that the urban development area is at the top of the agenda of the President of Azerbaijan Mr. Ilham Aliyev, who authorized the State Committee on Urban Planning and Architecture to ensure a well-planned and systematic implementation of this priority task in keeping with effective urban planning legislation. He provided information on the recent improvement of public governance in the area on Urban planning and the projects implemented by the Committee under the instructions of the country's leadership.

The sustainable development and management of cities is based on the major area planning document known as the Master Plan, and the Committee is paying special attention to the preparation of master plans following both the requirements of the country’s legislation and the cutting-edge global experience, he stressed. He reported that, in 2018, the Committee has hired the reputable international Boston Consulting Group to ensure proper preparation of the Baku City Master Plan in compliance with modern standards. Phase 1 of the two-phase Baku City Master Plan development process has been completed to produce the Baku city development concept containing selected development priorities.

The outcomes of Phase 1 include the preparation of an appropriate project proposal and a call for an open tender to choose an internationally recognized company. The bidding outcomes will be announced in March 2019. Following that, Phase 2 of the preparation of the Baku City Master Plan will be launched.

While, in the past year, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the Sumgait Master Plan, the preparation of draft master plans for the cities of Tovuz and Guba was completed, and the development of the Master Plan for the city of Bilasuvar is nearing its completion. At the same time, the State Committee on Urban Planning and Architecture has initiated the preparation of draft master plans for another 6 cities (Dashkesan, Shabran, Tartar, Saatli, Sabirabad, and Kurdamir). At present, 34 cities of the country already have the approved master plans. Several more cities’ master plans are awaiting the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2019.

The Committee Chairman talked about the current reforms conducted in the area of construction management, construction design, and urban planning as well as a need to enhance the Committee’s responsibility in keeping with several decrees signed by the head of the state in 2018. In this context, he particularly emphasized the importance of the Decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan of 28 December 2018 “On simplifying the construction permit and occupancy permit procedures for selected construction projects.”

Based on the latter decree, customers of the construction projects not requiring expert assessment can use the single window based E-Application System, currently under development and shortly expected to become functional, to obtain a permit for the construction and occupancy in the city of Baku.

Samir Nuriyev also pointed out that, during the period under review, the Committee implemented appropriate control measures, including chamber examinations and mobile visual inspections, to rectify the existing flaws. Thus, the appropriate control measures conducted in the area on Urban planning in 2018 disclosed that the executive bodies of 8 districts of Baku and 6 more districts throughout the country have violated the requirements of the urban development legislation and respective legal acts. The local authorities were presented with 22 mandatory “Directives” to redress these breaches. In the meanwhile, appropriate information on 21 cases of specific corpus delicti was submitted to the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Azerbaijan with investigations conducted and, in some instances, criminal proceedings initiated.

Next, the Committee’s Chief of Staff, Director of the HR Department and Director of the Baku State Design Institute under the Committee took turns to report on respective areas of activity conducted in 2018.

During the session, the Committee Collegial Council took the decision to make the necessary changes and improvements in the country’s respective legislation adopted in the past years with regard to a series of design and construction standards.