What is going on with Azerbaijan's regional airports? Economist's commentary
Regional airports in Azerbaijan
There are currently four international airports in the regions of Azerbaijan. They were built in Lankaran, Gabala and Zakatala relatively long ago; another appeared in Fizuli after the liberation of the occupied territories. An international airport in Lachin is currently under construction. But all these airports function only occasionally. Only one airport in the country – Baku airport – is fully operational. Natik Jafarli, an economist and one of the leaders of the opposition Republican Alternative party, talked about why.
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“They can’t use them themselves, and they won’t let others use them.”
“Several airports have been built and commissioned in the regions of the country, and several more will be built in the liberated territories. The air harbors in the regions are a heavy burden on the shoulders of the state budget, they cannot use them themselves and do not let others use them.
51 million dollars was spent on the construction of the airport in Lankaran. Subsequently the airport was repaired twice because they forgot to install a drainage system for groundwater during construction, which cost more than 10 million manats [about $6 million]. Since its commissioning, 2-3 million manat [about $1.2-1.8 million] has been spent annually on the maintenance of this airport. In 2023, only 12 thousand passengers used this air harbor, i.e. an average of 32 passengers per day.
The airport in Gabala cost the budget AZN 85 million [about $50 million]. Over AZN 2 million [about $1.2 million] is spent annually on maintenance. In 2023, this air harbor was not used, there were no arrivals or departures.
Zakatala airport was built for AZN 67.1 million [about $39.5 million], then another AZN 29 million [about $17 million] was allocated to fix engineering deficiencies and repairs. In 2023, 0 passengers will be ‘served’ here”.
What can be done?
“God bless those who invented Google — if you search, you can find how 10-12 years ago we offered to lease airports in the regions to foreign companies; officials did not answer us or said that it was impossible.
And now the same officials are speaking out and saying that they are negotiating long-term leasing of airports in the regions and are working in this direction.
Now they want to lease airports, but they cannot find anyone willing to lease them because foreign companies require guarantees of laws in order to invest and work; they are afraid of customs and tax policy. In other words, foreign investors do not believe your “everything will be fine”. They will not spend a dime on such conditions.
This means that we are back to the issue we have been talking about for years – to fix the economy, we must first fix the system of governance and the judicial system. There is no other way. They will lose 10-15 years, then they will come back to what we are talking about, but then it may be too late. Unlike the people, the economy cannot be ruled with a truncheon.”
