BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 10
By Sadraddin Aghjayev – Trend:
The state funding for the development and maintenance of the road infrastructure of Azerbaijan has exceeded $10 billion since the beginning of the implementation of the road network renewal program, Trend reports with reference to the World Bank (WB).
The WB has supported the state program for the development of the Azerbaijani road sector, including three projects for the reconstruction of highways through investments worth over $1 billion since 2001.
"The modernization of Azerbaijan's road assets is accompanied by institutional improvement," the WB said. "At the same time, the pace of this improvement, such as creating effective asset management practices, ensuring financial sustainability, and improving road safety, lags behind investments in the sector. Despite this, important progress has been achieved between us over the past period."
Moreover, the support was rendered to the establishment of an efficient road maintenance system within a highway reconstruction project financed by the bank.
"The efforts of the country’s government led to a decrease in fatal cases in road accidents by about 30 percent in 2012-2019," the message said.
At the same time, the bank thinks that the situation with road safety in Azerbaijan needs further improvement.
"Today, the number of fatal cases in road accidents in Azerbaijan is higher than in a number of other countries," the message says. "The big state investments in road infrastructure have recently given an advantage in terms of more effective traffic management, which has played an important role in reducing the number of road accidents."
According to the WB economists, the formation of an effective technical and institutional foundation of road traffic, work, and management of the road network continues in Azerbaijan.
"The State Road Fund does not have enough funds to maintain roads and additional revenues are required to close the maintenance gap and increase the financial sustainability of the sector," the message said. "The Azerbaijani government is interested in introducing the user-pays principle and introducing road user charges as a means of increasing financial sustainability."
"At the same time, the government intends to reduce the rate of destruction of the road surface and recognizes that operational efficiency can be improved through stricter control," the WB said.
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