Construction industry can add 10,000 jobs by 2020

By Azernews

By Nigar Abbasova

The government of Azerbaijan plans to achieve a GDP growth by 249 million manats ($ 141.2 million) until 2020, through the implementation of measures envisaged in the Strategic Road Map for the development of housing provision at a reasonable price in Azerbaijan.  

Under the Road Map, some 10,000 new jobs will be created in the construction sector of the country.

The document comprises short-term (until 2020), medium-term (until 2025) and long-term measures (post 2025) to be implemented in the sphere.

The short-term measures include strengthening of positions of the State Housing Agency to meet housing needs of the population, while medium-term measures envisage overall and systematic reconstruction of cities. Post-2025 measures cover the elimination of shortcomings in the development of housing sector in the regions.

MIDA LLC (which acts under the State Housing Construction Agency) will be responsible for the development of projects on the provision of housing at reasonable prices. 

Some 900 billion manats ($ 510.5 billion) are planned to be spent for the implementation of the measures. The financial means are expected to be provided from the state budget, and other sources including the National Fund for Entrepreneurship Support, international financial organizations, banking credits, Azerbaijan Mortgage Fund, and securities.

The project of social houses is expected to provide young and low-income families with renovated apartments with all conveniences.  The project is also expected to be of great importance for the strengthening of non-oil sector of the economy. 

Social housing is low-cost houses built in a short time. The area of the apartment is small, but there are appropriate living conditions.

The country earlier introduced a new system of subsidized housing, which will be created at the E-government portal and become available since May 2017. The system will provide all necessary information about requirements applied for acquisition of apartments on easy terms. The apartments, to be built to improve living conditions of citizens, will be constructed in the area of 11.6 hectares, which is located along the Outer Ring Road, in Yasamal district of Baku city. Nearly 2,000 apartments will be built at the campus. 

Developing the construction sector is expected to become one of the major drives of non-oil economy and to trigger the inflow of investment in the country. 

Besides, the country aims to become self-reliant in the sphere of construction materials, minimizing its import dependency.  The products of building industry in Azerbaijan include cement, iron-concrete products and panels, cubic stones, brick, glass, slate, asbestos-cement pipe, heat-insulating polymer construction materials, linoleum, plumbing and chemical window and door products. 

The country meets the domestic demand in cement production through local output. Some 2 million tons of cement worth over $100 million were imported in the country in 2014, while the volume recorded a fourfold drop and decreased down to 500,000 tons of cement in 2015. The figure reduced to 320,000 tons of cement and clinker in January-August 2016, while the sum spent for import operations amounted to only $15 million. Moreover, the country exported some 100,000 tons of cement worth $5 million to Georgia.

Priority areas in the sphere of construction are construction of brand hotels in the capital city and quality hotels in the regions, construction of tourism complexes, logistical warehouses, production of new types of construction materials, development of architectural and engineering services, introduction of brand new construction technologies, the production of aluminum, lime, ceramics, construction glass as well as the construction of logical warehouses and machinery plants.