Azerbaijan's construction story
Published on 28/03/2016
Azerbaijan’s construction industry has become one of the fastest-growing sectors of the country’s economy – with the capital Baku in particular becoming a city with a cosmopolitan and dynamic spirit.
The diverse variety of architecture in Baku is particularly impressive. On the one hand, the perfectly restored Old City (Icherisheher) resembles an open-air museum, whereas the latest hypermodern buildings give the city skyline a Dubai-style look.
Several large-scale architectural projects have recently been completed in Baku, including the Heydar Aliyev Cultural Centre, the Baku Crystal Hall, the International Mugham Centre and the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum. The capital’s new landmark, the Flame Towers, have been nominated for an Immobilien-Oscar - a prestigious award in construction and architecture.
In the near future, a 50-storey spinning skyscraper will appear in the capital. The director of this project is the Italian architect, Marco Vignali, who invented the spinning skyscraper a few years ago; the first of his designs will be built in Dubai, and the second in Baku. Also, the Baku White City project involves the restoration and development of the eastern part of the centre of the capital (known as ‘Black City’) and the creation of 10 urban districts.
The Baku Olympic Stadium opened in March 2015, hosting the opening and closing ceremonies and the track and field events of the first European Games. It is also expected to hold a few matches of the final round of the UEFA Championships in 2020. Related to this, an important nearby project is the completion of the ecological restoration of Boyukshor Lake, on the banks of which the stadium is situated. It is included in an action plan to improve the ecological status of nine lakes along the Absheron peninsula. The second phase of the lake’s restoration will span from 2015 to 2020, which will hopefully restore the body of water to its natural course and ecosystem, with an adjustment of the level of the water itself.
The scale of construction is now increasing nationwide. Modern hotels, Olympic sports complexes, hospitals, refineries and power plants have been built in many regions of the country in recent years, while construction of roads, bridges, junctions and highways is taking place on an unprecedented scale. Sports facilities are also being built in suburban communities such as Bulbula, Puta, Alat, Sangachal and Gobustan.
Over the past few years, a tremendous transformation has affected one of the main attractions of the capital – the waterfront boulevard. Its length has more than doubled to 6.5km, and the boulevard will be extended in the future to over 12 kilometres – and Baku’s main development plan involves extending it up to 33 km, from Bibi-Heybat Mosque to the village of Hosvan, by 2030.
Other recent construction developments around Azerbaijan in recent years include 14 new power stations, 40 Olympic sports complexes, 11,000km of roads, 300 bridges, thousands of new schools and seven airports – five handling international flights.