The Khazar Islands ( az, Xəzər adaları), also known as Caspian Islands, is a stalled development of

artificial islands An artificial island is an island that has been constructed by people rather than formed by natural means. Artificial islands may vary in size from small islets reclaimed solely to support a single pillar of a building or structure to those th ...

25 km (16 mi) south of Baku,

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...

consisting of 41 islands extending into the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia ...

The Plan

The stated plan was for $100 billion, with $30 billion coming from foreign investors and another $30 billion from apartment sales, the city aiming to house 1 million residents in a development with 150 schools, 50 hospitals and daycare centers, numerous parks, shopping malls, cultural centers and a university campus plus a Formula 1 quality

racetrack A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also use ...

around a centrepiece $2 billion Azerbaijan Tower (planned to have been the tallest in the world). The city was expected to be equipped with 150 bridges and a large municipal airport to connect the islands to the mainland. It is expected that, in general, the city, when completed in 2022–2023, will host 1 million residents. According to the project, the price of completely renovated apartments will be around $4000–$5000 per square meter. All of these facilities were to be able to withstand up to magnitude 9.0 earthquakes. The president of the controlling Avesta Group of Companies, Ibrahim Ibrahimov, reportedly had the original idea in a flash while flying between Baku and Dubai. He told reporters that American, Turkish, Arab and Chinese investors had showed interest in the project which he described as being like a "new Venice".

Construction and demise

Construction on Khazar Islands began in March 2011 and substantial building works were achieved during

's economic boom. In August 2014, the main beach area was opened with a fanfare with many sky-scraper buildings already part constructed. However, the project's gigantic scale and overly ambitious design became more obvious in 2015 as the oil price crashed. Between May 12 and May 27, 2015 Ibrahimov was arrested due to his company's inability to start repayment of his/Avesta's debt to the International Bank of Azerbaijan, a debt then reckoned to be around US$57 million.Milli.az report on Avesta and the Khazar Islands
/ref> After Ibrahimov's release, company statements later insisted that the project was still scheduled to be completed between 2020 and 2025 with investors from China cited as keen to fill the funding gap. In an April 2017 interview, Ibrahimov insisted that long-delayed works would finally restart later that year. In October 2017 Ibrahimov was reported to have restarted his work with Avesta and declared that he would not leave Azerbaijan but raised doubts as to the continuation of the Khazar Islands project and as of January 2018, there is little sign of any work resuming.Jan 2018 report
/ref>

References

External links

Khazar Islands Homepage

Avesta Concern Homepage
Artificial islands of Asia Islands of Azerbaijan Political controversies in Azerbaijan

The Plan

Construction and demise

See also

References

Further reading

External links