(MENAFN- AzerNews) By Rashid Shirinov
Construction of residential buildings for refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) continues in Sumgayit, the third largest city of Azerbaijan.
Numerous equipment and manpower have been attracted in order to accelerate the construction work, Azertac reported.
The work is carried out in accordance with the instructions of the First Vice President of Azerbaijan, Mehriban Aliyeva. In March 2017, Mrs.Aliyeva tasked the heads of relevant structures to ensure resettlement of refugee and IDP families, who are temporarily settled in dormitories in Baku and Sumgayit.
'Today the major objective is to provide new flats to 4,000 IDP families living in Baku and Sumgait. Those families living in the most difficult circumstances should soon be transferred to new buildings, she said at a meeting held on March 9.
Mrs.Aliyeva then emphasized that the main aim is to provide all displaced people living in damaged buildings with new apartments in 2017-2018.
In this regard, the Sumgayit City Executive Power allocated an area of 2.8 hectares for the construction of multi-storey buildings. In the first phase, these apartments will be provided to those settled in dormitories, schools and kindergartens of Sumgayit.
Currently a big town is being built here. Six residential buildings will be eight-storey, two fourteen- and other two fifteen-storey. In general these buildings will comprise 936 apartments, 278 of which will be three-room, 520 two-room and 138 one-room.
More than 52,000 refugees and IDPs from the occupied regions of Azerbaijan live in Sumgayit.
With a population of over 9.8 million, Azerbaijan is among the countries carrying the highest IDP caseload in the world in per capita terms.
Armenia broke out a lengthy war against Azerbaijan laying territorial claims on its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions.
Due to the ethnic cleansing policy carried out by Armenia and the Armenian occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions of Azerbaijan, the number of refugees and internally displaced persons hit more than 1.2 million.
The damage inflicted to Azerbaijan as a result of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict exceeds $800 billion.
In the years of 2001-2016, 95 settlements have been built, 151 schools, 58 cultural centers, 59 health centers and other infrastructure facilities have been constructed. The poverty rate among IDPs declined from 75 percent to 12 percent.
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