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Azerbaijan’s post-industrial
hangover
JOURNALIST STORY
By Kieran Cooke, BBC, Azerbaijan, May 2005
03
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Aslan Abbasov stands in the middle of the state run Azerchimia chemical
factory in Sumgait, a vast Soviet-built industrial complex 20 kilometres
north of Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.
Rusty pipes stretch into the distance. Most of the buildings are wrecked.
The air is heavy with the smell of chemicals. There is not a blade of
grass in sight. “When I come in here I think of the battle of Stalingrad,”
says Mr Abbasov, the plant’s director. “So much of the factory is falling
down but we still continue production. There are large amounts of toxic
chemicals about. We need millions of dollars to clean up the mess here but
the funds are difficult to come by.”
The industrial centre of Sumgait had been one of the most important producers
of chemicals and associated materials in the former USSR. With independence
gained in 1991 Azerbaijan suddenly lost the captive Soviet market for its
goods. Much of the country’s infrastructure is in serious need of repair.
Since independence, more than a million have left the country in search of
jobs. According to a UN estimate, more than 50% of Azerbaijan’s population
live below the poverty line. Industries in Sumgait once employed 45,000
- now only about 5,000 work at the complex. Workers say that environmental
controls that existed in the old Soviet days have largely disappeared.
52