Azerbaijan republic ministry of transport road transport service department

4.3Human and Economic Resources Environment

9. Population

The Baku-Shamakhi road passes through three administrative districts namely, from east to west; Absheron, Qobustan, and Shamakhi. The three main centres of population along the Project road are Baku, Maraza and Shamakhi.

Table 3. Population along Baku-Shamakhi Road

District	Population (2003)
Absheron	89,900
Qobustan	36,200
Shamakhi	84,000

Source: Azerbaijan Republic State Statistical Committee

10. Community Infrastructure

Every district has its own administrative centre where Local Executive Power is situated. The Head of Executive Power is appointed by the President. The Local Executive Power receives funding from Central Government. The Local Executive Power has a land department that has relevant detailed information and maps about land use and land ownership. The appropriate Local Executive Power prepares documents about land use and land ownership and gives it to the municipalities (groups of villages). Each village has its own municipality and large villages with the small villages around them form administrative units. Municipal representatives are elected for 5 years by the local people. Municipal income is mainly formed by local taxes (e.g. extraction tax, property tax). Although municipalities are independent bodies, according to the Law on Administrative Control on Municipality Activity (LACMA), the Local Executive Power has authority to control their activity. The purpose of this control is to coordinate municipal activity with legislation, but it must not limit their activity (LACMA Article .4). Usually, administrative units and local municipalities work together to solve local problems.

11. Land Use and Sources of Income

The villages along the proposed route have small shops for every day goods and services which, in addition to serving the local population, also serve passing traffic on the existing road. Along the roadside, there are a variety of transport-related small industries as well as casual vendors of fruits, vegetables and nuts.

Table 4 shows the location of selected industries in relation to the proposed route, all are located outside of the ROW.

Table 4. Industries along the Project road

Industry	Location
Khirdalan beer plant	km 12
Caspian fish processing factory	km 18
Centre of radioactive waste materials	km 29
Shamakhi wine-mill	km 112

Main sources of incomes of the districts traversed by the Project road are as follows:

Absheron: The Absheron district's economy is based on food processing, irrigated agriculture (vegetable production, vine growing) and livestock breeding for milk and meat production. In the south, pistachio nuts, almonds and olives are grown as well as very valuable saffron (Crocus sativus), a natural food flavouring and colouring agent with pharmaceutical properties. In addition, there are deposits of oil and natural gas. Along the roadside, butchers slaughter and sell meat.

Qobustan: The economic basis of the Qobustan district is agriculture: mainly grain production, cattle breeding and vine growing.

Shamakhi: The basis of the economy of the district is agriculture, i.e., grain production, cattle breeding and vine growing. For centuries, it was famed for its carpet production. There is no oil in the district. According to the Head of Executive Power, current industrial facilities include a television factory exporting to five countries and a factory producing air conditioners, refrigerators and washing machines. A Peugeot vehicle factory is currently being constructed, which is planned to open within the year.

Tourism is viewed as a potential growth industry in Shamakhi, with a focus on nature and winter sports. The city is already a popular destination at weekends. A guidebook in English and Russian is being produced.

12. Cultural Resources

Common property resources located near the proposed route are as follows:

Table 5. Properties along the Project road

Property	Number (Quantity)	Distance from road (km)
School, Muganli	1	>1km
School, Sabir	1	Adjacent to existing road
School and mosque, Maraza	1	Adjacent to existing road
Graveyards and monuments	1 Graveyard, 2 monuments, Shamakhi	Adjacent to existing road
	1 Graveyard, monument, Sabir	Adjacent to existing road
	1 Monument, Ceyrankecmez	Adjacent to existing road
	2 Graveyards, Hokmoli (Absheron)	Adjacent to existing road
Olympic Center	Shamakhi	Adjacent to existing road
Tree plantations of State Forest Fund	7 km (between km 55 and 89)	Adjacent to existing road
Gas pipeline, Shamakhi	2	Adjacent to existing road

There are a number of memorials to accident victims located along the roadside. In Maraza, the Diri Baba Mausoleum, dating from the 15th century, is built into a cliff 1.1 km from the main road. At Pirsaat Pir, east of the bridge over the major Pirsaat river at Sabir, there is a place where local people come to drink the reputedly holy water and leave a donation.

Shamakhi is an ancient city which may be the Khamkhia described in Ptolemy's Geography written 2 AD. The city was established on a major regional trading route. For most of its history, Shamakhi was the capital of Shirvan westem Azerbaijan, until the centre of power was moved to Baku in the 15th - 16th centuries. The city has several mosques, including the Juma (Friday) Mosque with two minarets (established 743) and the Grand Mosque built 1902.

Other historical buildings within the area include the Gulustan Fortress dating from 1043 west of the city and the Yeddi Gumbaz tombs of the khans of Shamakhi which date from the 18th to early 19th century. There is also a caravanserai complex dating back to the 14th century. There is a large graveyard between the road and the water supply reservoir, west of the road between Shamakhi and Muganli.