News buses require new conditions: deputy transport minister

Day.Az: Has the Transport Ministry taken steps regarding prevention of the swine flu in the country?

Musa Panahov: Certainly. Given that motor vehicles and railways are connected with international transport, we have given instructions to all relevant agencies to create conditions for normal work with health authorities in case of any suspicions case so that the emergence of the virus is informed immediately.

Our task is to report ailing passengers to prevent further penetration of the virus in Azerbaijan. Moreover, we instruct all employees who travel abroad to contact less with local populations in those countries.

Q: Recently, the president was shown the construction of ring roads around Baku. Would it be helpful if this track is in some way will deal with congestion in the capital, which does not become smaller despite the new bridges and tunnels?

A: First, I do not agree with the view that traffic jams in Baku has not diminished. I think compared to 2005-2006 the situation has changed greatly. At that time travel through the city was problem. Today, at peak times there are also some problems with traffic. But I would not say that this is traffic jam. It is simply a slowdown in traffic. This problem is natural for all the major cities. The head of state gave us relevant instructions to solve the problem of traffic jams. I think the measures taken in the past few years have a great effect. Except rush hours, we have no problems related to the traffic in the capital.

With respect to the ring road, of course, it is constructed in order to significantly reduce the burden of traffic in the city. Today, any vehicle that goes from north to south, or west to the north has to use central roads of Baku. The current road is narrow.

It was therefore decided to build a ring road. Construction has a good pace. We plan to put it into operation by end of the year. This will be a six-path road with length of 21.5 kilometers. It will allow all other vehicles to drive through capital.

Q: Do not you think that traffic jams are linked with  irresponsible behavior of drivers? In fact, most of them are so rarely use bridges and tunnels and prefer to travel only on traditional routes.

A: There are several reasons behind it. First, the number of cars in the capital is steadily growing. On average, 85,000-90,000 cars are imported to Baku every year. This is a very large amount. Even foreign experts predicted 7 to 8 years ago that at most  50,000 cars will imported to Baku every year. But the current figure is twice as much as the predicted one.

The second reason is that many streets in Baku are old, especially in the historical part. They were not meant for receiving such intense traffic. It is very difficult ot enlarge them.

Unfortunately, drivers often violate traffic rules. So, these factors cause congestion.

Q: Is the problem of buses in the city center considered to be already fully resolved or will reforms continue?

A: As a part of the technical assistance we are working on this project. The increased number of new larger buses hassignificantly decreased the number of other vehicles in the center of the capital. This would relieve the streets and create convenient conditions for passengers. That is, we have addressed two problems at once.

Of course, this process will continues and I think problem of bus transport in the city center and suburbs will be resolved. The large buses will replace smaller ones soon. All this will help to eliminate traffic jams.

/Day.Az/