By AZE.US
BAKU — Azerbaijani lawmakers have raised concerns about traffic congestion, strained infrastructure and migration from the regions to the capital, prompting a policy expert to say parliament should have addressed the problems much earlier.
The issues were discussed at a meeting of the Milli Majlis Human Rights Committee on Sept. 21, alongside health care, social services and regional development, according to Vesti Baku.
Ilgar Huseynli, chairman of the Social-Strategic Research and Analytical Analysis public association, told Globalinfo.az that the criticism had come too late.
He said years of construction in Baku without adequate consideration for roads and social infrastructure had contributed to the pressure now facing the city.
Huseynli said parliament should previously have pressed for binding standards governing the distance between buildings and requiring new residential developments to include schools, kindergartens and recreation areas.
He also linked the flow of people into Baku to insufficient development in Azerbaijan’s regions. Better laws and stronger enforcement that created viable living and employment conditions outside the capital could have reduced the scale of migration, he said.
“Belated criticism no longer means anything. The task now is to find ways out of the existing problems,” Huseynli said.
The central question, he added, is no longer whether lawmakers acknowledge Baku’s problems, but what concrete measures will follow their statements.
Source: Vesti Baku
AZE.US