A meeting on the ecological situation of the Caspian Sea and Baku Bay was held in the Cabinet of Ministers.
According to Elchi.az, the Cabinet of Ministers reported that a meeting dedicated to the implementation of the “Complex Action Plan for 2025-2030 on the removal and other rehabilitation works of various-purpose emergency and unusable hydrotechnical facilities in the Caspian Sea, including repeated liquidation and isolation of emergency and liquidated wells, overpasses, berths, platforms, as well as sunken and semi-submerged ships” and the improvement of the ecological situation of Baku Bay was held today under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Ali Asadov.
In his speech, Prime Minister Ali Asadov said that the problems caused by the obsolescence, corrosion and hydrometeorological factors of various-purpose hydrotechnical facilities, liquidated or conserved oil wells, overpasses, berths, platforms inherited from the Soviet Union in the oil and gas fields of the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea have a negative impact on the ecological situation of the sea, and at the same time, the pollution in Baku Bay (Seaside Boulevard) has deepened as a result of long-term anthropogenic impacts, and there is an urgent need to improve its ecological situation.
Elshan Hajizade, Head of the Industry and Energy Department of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Azerbaijan, made a presentation on the Complex Action Plan, and reports were heard from Kamaladdin Heydarov, Minister of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Rashad Ismayilov, First Deputy Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Rovshan Najaf, President of the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and Afgan Jalilov, Chairman of the Board of Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping Company CJSC.
At the same time, reports were heard from Khanlar Agalarov, Chairman of the Board of the Seaside Boulevard Department, and Zaur Mikayilov, Chairman of the Azerbaijan State Water Resources Agency, and other speeches regarding the improvement of the ecological situation of Baku Bay.
Discussions were held on both issues, and relevant state institutions were instructed to prepare an interactive map-scheme by conducting monitoring in the Caspian Sea, to determine and prioritize the scope of work, to study international experience and implement measures on the basis of the public-private partnership principle, as well as to dismantle emergency and unusable hydrotechnical facilities and wells, remove sunken and semi-submerged ships, and assess the impact of the measures taken on the improvement of the marine environment.
Also, in order to clean Baku Bay (Seaside Boulevard) and improve its ecological condition, it was instructed to prepare an Action Plan that includes urgent works to remove metal structures exposed in the coastal areas by drawing sea water, to prevent the discharge of sewage into the basin, to clean oil stains and various wastes floating on the surface of the water, as well as oil-contaminated soils around it.