BUILDING IN RURAL AREAS REQUIRES ATTENTION

Azat Artsakh – Nagorno Karabakh Republic [NKR]
07 July 05

In the 1980s, the construction projects for the kolkhozes of Mets
Taghlar, Togh, Ukhtadzor, Banadzor in the region of Hadrut were worked
out but were not brought into being for the reasons we know. Moreover,
21 villages of the region were bombed and destroyed during the war. By
a rough estimate over 1530 houses, 22 schools, 10 cultural buildings,
20 maternity wards, 4 nursery schools, 10 communication enterprises,
more than 120 km of telephone cables, 160 km of electricity cables, 33
shops and enterprises providing services, 30 km of water pipeline, 15
artesian wells, 4 water pumping stations and over 110 km of main and
local roads were destroyed in the region of Hadrut. Over a dozen
processing units were destroyed. 2500 people were compelled to leave
their homes. After the armistice in May 1994 the reconstruction of
these villages began. Schools, medical stations, over 1000 houses were
built in the villages of Banadzor, Arakel, Khandzadzor, Arevshat,
Pletants, Tsamdzor, Norashen, Aygestan; 1400 people came back to these
villages. Today the villager owns land and earns his bread, overcoming
the difficulties. At present the first problem of rural areas is
improvement of living conditions. After the war the government began
the reconstruction of the displaced villages. The lack of funds and
the great volume of work were the reasons why the houses lacked basic
amenities, although the settlers did not pay much attention to this,
for the wish to return to their homes was great. In solving the
problem of housing, no attention was paid to the future development of
the community, architecture, amenities. During the privatization of
land the growth of the village was not considered, and no reserve of
land was foreseen for future building, which causes problems in
providing land for building houses in all the parts of the region,
hindering the development of infrastructures and bringing about
additional expenses. Today there is need for founding public compounds
where the club, the mayors office, the maternity ward, the library,
etc. will be located. The village roads need repair. The tender for
reconstruction of rural areas initiated by the NKR prime minister in
2001 produced good results. All the communities of the region
participated in the tender, doing certain projects. The communities of
Mets Taghlar, Togh, Mariamadzor, Tsakuri, Khandzadzor and Jrakus won
the tender and on the means provided from the NKR state budget the
museum of Khudyakov in Mets Taghlar was reconstructed, banquet halls
were built in Togh, Mariamadzor, a broadcasting station was installed
in Khandzadzor, the sources of the villages of Tsakuri and Jrakus were
repaired. This kind of work is, of course, commendable but the
government should consider the development of rural areas in
perspective, controlling the quality of the work, for what is done is
done for centuries.

ED. DAVTIAN.
07-07-2005