"LITTLE AZERBAIJAN" TURNS 60

Sumqayit is a town of youth, a town of the young.  In their quite short history of 60 years, the "walls" of the town have seen and survived much - from humble barracks for the poor to modern high-rise buildings, from simple workshops to industrial giants, from the status of town with the most polluted environment to vast green parks....  There are many hopes for Sumqayit today, its production and industrial potential continues to attract investors and work on rebuilding its status as the second industrial centre goes on.  This effort is beginning to yield tangible results.

This year Sumgayit turns 60 and, on 24 April 2009, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed a directive to organize celebrations for the town's anniversary.  Vaqif Aliyev, head of the town executive authority, noted in conversation with Region Plus that the head of state's directive was a sign to every resident of Sumqayit that the town is always a focus for the president's attention.

Year after year

The official history of Sumqayit starts on 22 November 1949 when, by decision of the Presidium of the Azerbaijani SSR Supreme Council, it was given the status of a town.  At the same time, decisions to build a thermal power plant and several heavy industrial enterprises on the Abseron Peninsula, which had been taken in June-July 1935 at a collegial meeting of the USSR Heavy Industry Commission, played an important role in the development of Sumqayit.  Following that decision, the first dormitories were built, where the Sumgayit thermal power station is now situated, and a town was built for builders and mechanics.  Then construction of synthetic rubber, chemical and pipe plants and a thermal power station began.  When the Great Patriotic War started, construction work in Sumqayit was suspended, and all these facilities, together with aluminium and superphosphate plants, were put into operation only after the war.

From the 1970s, under the leadership of national leader Heydar Aliyev, a broad campaign there to build new production facilities created favourable conditions for the development of Sumqayit into a large industrial town.  In that period, alongside large enterprises, light industry and machine-building facilities were put into operation, including bulked yarn and knitted outerwear plants, a compressor plant and numerous facilities for the social infrastructure.

By the late 1980s, Sum-gayit's industrial enterprises began to increase their production output and in that period, their share in the total industrial output of the country began to increase noticeably.

However, the dissolution of the USSR paralyzed all enterprises in the country, and the giants of Sumqayit were, unfortunately, no exception.  Guiding them out of their blight without re-establishing ties with trade partners and suppliers turned out to be quite a difficult problem.

The chemical industry, for example, started to overcome the consequences of stagnation only after national leader Heydar Aliyev signed a contract, during an official visit to Japan, to build a steam generating installation for the ethylene and polyethylene plant.  Assembly and construction work on the installation started in 1999 and, in 2001 it was already in operation.

In the words of Vaqif Aliyev, head of Sumqayit's executive authority, Heydar Aliyev's role in the town's transformation into one of the most important Azerbaijani cities was invaluable.  He visited the town 16 times as leader of the republic, and every visit would turn a new page in the history of Sumqayit.  Because people from different provinces of Azerbaijan lived in the town, Heydar Aliyev called Sumqayit "little Azerbaijan," a town of unity and solidarity.

"On 3 April 2003, Heydar Aliyev paid his last visit, and his speech to the people of the town established a comprehensive programme for the development of Sumqayit for many years to come.  This strategy was reaffirmed by President Ilham Aliyev in the State Programme of Social and Economic Development of the Regions of Azerbaijan (2004-2008), in which 11 clauses are dedicated to the town.

Economic rise

The implementation of clauses in the programme, and large-scale work to rebuild the industrial glory of the town, resulted in an overall increase of 270% in the total value of products and industrial services in the last 6 years, the per capita industrial output increased by 300% and the nominal average salary, which best determines the population's standards of living, rose by more than 260%.

At the same time, a total of more than AZN 1.415 billion was invested from different funding sources into the development of different sectors of the city and more than 38,000 new jobs were created, of which more than 60% are permanent.

In the last 6 years, more than 50 large and medium-sized production enterprises have been created in Sumqayit, including Azkompozit Ltd, BisMak Food Industry System Ltd, a production facility to manufacture plastic pipes (Design Genie Azerbaijan Ltd), a tiling fixative production facility (BASF Caspian Yapi Ltd), an electric controller production facility (Azel Ltd), a plastic and aluminium door and window production facility (Laoumann) and so on.

Among the companies which have been established in recent years in Sumqayit, the large-diameter piping and fibreglass plant of Azkompozit Ltd stands apart because it provisions the construction of the 260km water pipeline from Oguz to Baku, which will provide drinking water for the capital.

And the Azerbai-jani-Turkish joint venture Azel Ltd, specializing in electric transformers and which was founded in 2001, supplies its products to different areas of the republic.  In the 7 years since the company was established, its customers have already experienced what the company can accomplish and they continue to select its high-quality products, which shows that its product range is highly competitive in the market.  General Dirctor Nabi Nabiyev said that its network of service and warranty maintenance outlets make it possible to compete with cheap Chinese-made products.  At the same time, the fact that the raw materials and components for the transformers are supplied from Turkey is also important.

Let us also note that, at present, several more large enterprises are being built in the town, and they will contribute to the economic development of Sumqayit.  They include the Technology Park, which is unique in the CIS and which will produce copper and aluminium alloys, electric wires of different diameters and power cables, the Sumqayit Kardon Ltd, manufacturer of paper and cardboard and the Azersun Holding paper mill.  Reconstruction of Sumqayit Trikotazh JSC is under way; it will manufacture cotton yarns and knitted clothes (today it is known as Intertekstil JSC).

Vaqif Aliyev noted that more than 2,000 legal entities and more than 8,000 individuals do business in Sumqayit at present.  Banks play an important role in the development of business, the creation of new jobs and the establishment of production facilities, by lending to business projects.  There are already 27 branches of central banks in the town, and the majority of their offices were also built in the last 6 years.

Infrastructure rebuilt

Executive authority head Vaqif Aliyev said that, in parallel with routine work, large-scale infrastructure projects are being implemented with direct support from the country's leadership.  It suffices to note that 3.4 million square metres of roads have been asphalted in the last 6 years, Sahil and Carkasi streets have been thoroughly reconstructed, capital repairs carried out to 160 residential buildings, facades renovated in 250 buildings and so on.  The majority of the 350 lifts which had not worked for many years have been repaired and made operational again, 15 kilometres of natural gas pipes of different diameters have been laid and a 4th gas pipeline put into operation.  To rehabilitate the central heating systems for social infrastructure facilities, 11 boiler rooms have been repaired and new mobile boiler rooms built.

New water pipelines were laid in the town and surrounding villages to a total length of 30 kilometres, and a 10-km wastewater network has been built.  It must be added here that also in this period, the Sollar water pipeline, which was put into operation in the 1940s, was reconstructed on President Ilham Aliyev's initiative, providing a supply of drinking water to 120,000 residents of the town.

The problem of environmental pollution, caused by the dumping of wastewater into the Caspian Sea, because no wastewater treatment facility had ever been built in the town, is also being addressed.  A water treatment facility, unlike any other in the republic, will treat up to 200,000 cubic metres of water.

The 517-megawatt Sumgayit power plant, which was built to meet the town's increased electrical energy requirements, is the largest power plant in the region.  The power plant - incidentally, President Ilham Aliyev took part in the foundation laying ceremony - was built by the Siemens Corporation and is equipped with unique technology, thanks to which it is controlled by one person from a central control panel.

As for the construction infrastructure, given the great demand for real estate from the town's residents and insufficient residential property being available, the construction of high-rise buildings began; more than 30 have been built, with a total residential area of more than 400,000 square metres.  In addition, 7 buildings were built from government funds for families which fall into the special category of people who need social benefits.  At the same time, administrative buildings were built in Sumqayit for local branches of government organizations and a sports complex for the Paralympic Games, which is a centre for the provision of services to people with disabilities.  The House of the Elderly, an important social centre, was completed this year for elderly people who have made a special contribution to the development of Sumqayit and who remain active in community affairs; it is both a place of work and a place of recreation for older people.

For the people's benefit

Certainly, one of the main components for the successful development of society is education.  Sumqayit can pride itself on this issue too.  Pilot projects in the field of education are usually implemented just here before they are introduced nationwide.  And the material infrastructure of educational institutions, in particular the four new school buildings, the construction of new buildings for 2,200 schoolchildren at 7 schools, the installation of heating systems in all schools, capital repairs to the roofs of school buildings and development of their material and technological infrastructures, are bound to play an important role in improving the quality of education.

These days, the employment of information technology in different aspects of life is a pressing issue.  And Sumqayit is a pioneer here too:  the town executive authority's web site was the first to be created among the executive authorities of Azerbaijan and established a communications channel between the town's authority and the citizens via email.  In addition, an internal computer network has been created in the last two years for the executive authority to computerize the flow of documentation, and this too was a first among the country's executive authorities.

The results of Sumqayit's successes in the social and economic sectors are clearly manifested in the health care system:  in parallel with improvements in the material and technological infrastructure of the state-run institutions in this sector and in the supply of necessary medical equipment, 13 private clinics have been created in the last 6 years, considerably improving the quality of medical services.

And reconstruction and capital repairs to the vast majority of the town's cultural centres, including the Uz. Hacibayov Kimyaci Palace of Culture, the Samed Vurgun Palace of Culture, the 28 May Palace of Culture, the Arts Gallery, the Central Library, the Bul-Bul Children's Creative School and the Sumqayit Historical Museum, have revived the cultural life of the town and made qualitatively new cultural programmes possible.  To the great joy of the citizens, the professional troupe of the Sumqayit State Musical Drama Theatre has resumed its work and staged its diverse repertoire not only in the town, but also at international festivals.

Naturally, the appearance of the city and its environmental situation is in special focus.  Since 2003, 13 new parks and 10 alleys, with a total area of 16 hectares have been built or rebuilt in Sumqayit.  During the same period, some 100,000 trees were planted in different areas of the town.  At present, there are 26 square metres of greenery per resident in Sumqayit, which is above the national average!  And the work to clear rubbish from Sumqayit and its waste management could, without false modesty, serve as an example to other towns and cities in the country.

Overall, to summarize all of the above about present-day Sumqayit, it should be noted that, just like 60 years ago, the town is a town of youth.  There are many opportunities for the young generation to get a good education or to find a good job, buy housing, stay fit and healthy and enjoy a rich cultural life.  And where there is youth, life is always lively and bustling, there are new projects and ideas, a rapid rate of development, and a desire to achieve even more.  And thus the road leads forward, towards new anniversaries.