Azerbaijan, Baku, April 30 /Trend, U.Ismayilova/
World Bank (WB) plans to reduce the cost on developing a plan for regional development of Greater Baku, WB Baku Office said on April 30.
"This decision was made after WB's assessment of work on developing the plan by the specialists of the State Committee for Architecture and Urban Planning of Azerbaijan, the office said. Despite that the tender process to attract developers for plan is still continuing, the Azerbaijani specialists have already fulfilled most of the work.
In this regard, the World Bank sees no need to attract international experts, thereby cancelling the international tender being conducted since last year. However, it is possible to conclude small contracts with specialists from different areas as needed.
"Contracts can be concluded with both local and foreign experts, said the office. At present, all these issues are under discussion."
The committee received appeals on participation in the tender from 34 companies out of 21 countries, admitting six groups of companies to participate in the tender:
AS & P Albert Speer & Partners GmbH (Germany);
Moshe Zur Architects Town Planners Ltd., Marmanet organization & Projects, Management International Ltd., Geoda Geographical Data, Landed Property, Mapping and Surveying Ltd. (Israel);
EDAW, AECOM (U.S.);
HOK (Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum) Inc., Development Planning Unit, (England), Shaw Consultants International (U.S.), Scott Wilson (Az. Office) (England);
GHK Consulting (United Kingdom), International Land System Inc. (U.S.), Synergetics Ltd. (Azerbaijan);
Urban Solutions (The Netherlands), Hansen Partnership (Australia), Baku State Design Institute (Azerbaijan).
The tender procedure is carried out with support of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (a member of World Bank group).
"The plan is called Great Baku, as the previous plan of Baku covered graphic principles and concept of 22,000 hectares of the territory of the capital city. Real area of Baku totals 219,000 hectares," Gojayev said earlier.
The last master plan of Baku was adopted in 1987. Meanwhile, The Azerbaijani government, exactly the Azerbaijani Committee on Architecture and Town Building through the loans of the World Bank realize the project on drafting a regional development program of Great Baku. The project includes a perspective development of Baku and Sumgayit and the Absheron region as a whole in the subsequent 20 years. Similar projects have been implemented in some countries of Eastern Europe. However, none of them covered the capital, along with suburbs with a population of over 3 million people. The project will involve new technologies, such as the use of geographic information system.