BAKU, November 2. /TASS/. Azerbaijan will allocate 4 billion manats ($2.4 billion) in 2024 to modernize the infrastructure in Nagorno-Karabakh and the East Zangezur Region.
According to the country’s draft budget for next year, published on the website of the Finance Ministry, "it is planned to allocate 4 billion manats from the state budget of 2024 for the reconstruction and restoration of towns and villages to ensure the return of the population to the territories liberated from occupation, the creation of modern infrastructure (electricity, gas and water supply, communications, roads, infrastructure of education, health, housing and municipal services, as well as restoration and repair of cultural and historical monuments, construction of housing)," the document said.
Earlier, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that by the end of 2023 about 12 billion manats, or more than $7 billion, will be allocated for the restoration of Nagorno-Karabakh and the East Zangezur Region.
Azerbaijan is implementing a "Great Return" state program with regard to the liberated territories of Nagorno-Karabakh and the East Zangezur Region, to which, according to the government, 140,000 people are expected to return by the end of 2026.