Highland Recovery (Waynakhia)
      From top, left to right: Utility poles along a new road in Mälxista region; Creation of a road leading to village of Aqa-Bass; Newly rebuilt mosque in village of Ç̇armaẋa; View of mountains in Äkka region from a new road; Winter road construction in Tīra region; Vehicle stuck in heavy snow on road to village of Niq̇ara | |
| Date | 1 June 2020 - present |
|---|---|
| Duration | Ongoing |
| Location | Mountain Region, Waynakhia |
| Also known as | Highland Recovery Project; Highland Project |
| Type | Economic policy and development project |
The Highland Recovery, also known as the Highland Project or the Highland Recovery Project, is an ongoing economic policy and development project in Waynakhia. The policy began in 2003 with periods of activity and dormancy, but was heavily mentioned in the 2018 Waynakh Democratic Party manifesto. The project aims to develop and repopulate southern Waynakhia's eight Mountain Region provinces, with the goal of permanently boosting Waynakhia's economic activity and output and increasing the country's GDP for future development. It seeks to do so without negatively impacting the rest of the country economically, such as the Plains Region. A white paper for the Highland Recovery was published on 2 January 2020; the project is overseen largely by the Department of Highland Recovery.
Timeline
2003-2019: Informal redevelopment
In 2003, the Waynakh Democratic Party under President Dudaġera passed several laws with the aim of improving the inhabitability and economy of the southern provinces of Waynakhia, which had previously had an extremely low population. The region was also disproportionately poor and under-developed compared to the central belt. In early 2004, following a large increase in socio-economic interest in and population of the southern regions of the country, more laws were passed, and policies were created to begin the social and economic restoration of the mountainous areas, beginning with redevelopment of the most significant 50 settlements, including administrative centers and historical population centers. This won massive popular support for Dudaġera, who won the March 2004 presidential election by a majority. Economic development continued at a rapid pace, with the construction of roads and building of other critical infrastructure, and in some cases the repopulation of villages, until the 2008 financial crisis; at that time, the ongoing redevelopment of the mountainous region was suspended in favor of securing the continued function of the republic's economy centered on the lowland regions. Support for Dudaġera and the WDP fell initially before recovering as the worst of the crisis passed in Vaynakhia; however, a president cannot serve more than two terms in Vaynakhia, and Dudaġera retired from politics in 2009. The project remained suspended after the WDP's March 2009 election win, with the country shifting its focus towards the oil industry as a more reliable source of income.
In March 2014, the opposition Waynakh Republican Party won the national election, and three months later, restarted the project, with significant cash injections placed into the mountainous regions of the country coming from oil revenues and international funding. The stated goal was to use the region to separate and stabilise Waynakhia's economy by 2025 from Western economies it depended on. However, the 2015 Porciúncula Stock Exchange crash led to a sudden end in much foreign funding to Waynakhia, causing a major slowdown in the country's economy. As a result, the project was temporarily suspended again, with support for the WRP falling as a result of the suspension of the project.
2020-present: COVID-19 pandemic and launch of the project
The 2019 election was won by the Waynakh Democratic Party, returning to power in March of that year. It capitalised on the WRP's failure to continue redevelopment of the mountain region, and the country's new president promised to make major steps towards redevelop the mountainous region "no matter what happens". The COVID-19 pandemic reached Waynakhia in March 2020, though despite widespread belief that the country would struggle to control the outbreak, early border closures and strong rules lessened its impact. However, it did still lead to a short-term suspension of the project, from March to May 2020.
From 1 June 2020, President Aydamir launched the Highland Recovery Project, two months later than originally planned. An opinion poll in June 2020 showed that support for Aydamir and the WDP was at a record high of 83%, matching support in mid-2000 for Dudaġera, which was largely as a result of the successful elimination of the virus from the country and the launch of the project despite the major challenge facing the country. Through the spring and summer of 2021, some newly accessible parts of the country's mountainous region were cultivated for the first time in decades, boosting Waynakhia's agricultural output for the year. The Highland Recovery was suspended for two short periods between summer 2020 and spring 2021 due to brief local outbreaks, and in September and October 2021 due to a major community outbreak, of the virus. Waynakhia moved to a suppression strategy against COVID-19 from November 2021, and the Highland Recovery project resumed.
In September 2022, it was confirmed that in many parts of the area covered by the project, road construction had been completed, with the creation of critical infrastructure such as water, gas, heating, electricity and sewage systems, being completed across more than 95% of the areas primarily targeted for redevelopment. Farms in some settlements, and public amenities such as mosques, convenience stores, health centres, and public service buildings, had been constructed in the majority of settlements as intended, along with the commencement of the sale of land plots for houses from 1 December.
From February 2023, the construction of private houses began in more than 60 villages across the region, representing a 'huge milestone' in the project. By the middle of March 2023, the government reported that 84 villages across the Mountain Region were actively seeing construction of private houses, with the total number of settlements expected to see their populations return or grow predicted to increase to at least 110 once the snow season ended and conditions became more appropriate for working and building homes.
Key road construction had been completed or almost completed in almost all regions targeted by the project by March 2024, with the exception of Mäysta; there, the government cited the extreme terrain and lack of flat territory as a key barrier to the area's development, with only a short road along part of the bank of the Chanta-Orga River having been completed, and roads to the three settlements planned for revival in the area showing much less progress than those in the rest of the country's south.
By the end of 2023, 31 settlements across the six provinces had been repopulated, which had increased to 36 settlements by May 2024. The Waynakh government defined the repopulated villages as having at least one registered residential address, with at least one citizen of Waynakhia registering the specified address and village as their primary place of residence. Of these, 12 settlements had at least one registered enterprise, with most being farms or small businesses run from private houses. The government also noted that several settlements of the Mountain Region with populations prior to the project's launch had registered 'significant' population increases, with a project spokesperson stating that "the Highland Recovery project is undeniably working". According to data from the project managers and Waynakh government, the number of applications from Waynakh citizens looking to move to Galay-Chazh Province was 6,585, with a total of over 20,000 applications in total for the project.
In the March 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections, many of the new districts and settlements in the Mountain Region recorded a majority vote in favour of the incumbent Waynakh Democratic Party, which won the election. President Şamil Aydamir toured much of the region in April 2024 to meet with residents and see progress on the revival of settlements. Several residents stated that the lack of key amenities in settlements made it difficult to live in the mountain villages, especially in the winter. By the end of April, the project had updated its plans to specify the locations of convenience stores, fuel stations, schools and other necessities, on a settlement-level basis, with these amenities being spread across various settlements in each area, rather than being mainly in administrative centres, to maintain a sustainable and permanent repopulation of the Mountain Region as a whole. Moreover, some 'essential businesses', such as supermarket chain Berkat, voluntarily reduced or removed their delivery fees to Mountain Region settlements without nearby working enterprises providing essential goods.
By December 2024, data from the Waynakh government and the Highland Recovery management team indicated that over 40,000 applications had been received from Waynakh citizens aiming to return to the provinces targeted by the project, representing over 8,000 new households. One of the largest factors in this 'second wave' of applications was the large increase in work opportunities created by the project, as well as the installation of roads and modern technologies connecting the rural areas of the country, along with opportunities to start small businesses with financial incentives from the government.
Key aims
The key aims of the Highland Recovery Project are, primarily, the restoration of social and economic activity in the underdeveloped and sparsely populated southern provinces of Waynakhia, as well as the creation of conditions suitable for habitation according to modern standards.
- Industry: primarily small businesses functioning within the processing industry, such as the processing of meat products, milk and dairy products, and bakeries, among others, as well as production of spring water products.
- Capital: redevelopment of a permanent and sustainable social sphere, including amenities such as facilities for local industry, small shops, elementary, middle and high schools, fuel stations, health centres and local hospitals, and public service buildings such as emergency services and village halls; construction of a maintainable road network to allow transportation of goods and services to and from redeveloped regions, as well as accessibility for all vehicles year-round.
- Agriculture: formation of farms in settlements, with cultivation of a majority of the agricultural and arable land available in the regions targeted by the project; creation of a basis of government-owned and privately-owned property; creation of a raw material production and provision base for raw materials and technology to allow the function of a wide and varied network of small enterprises in the agricultural economy; provision of subsidies to agricultural producers and stabilisation of finances.
- Settlement and local government: the repopulation of all settlements listed in the master plan, with housing built to modern standards to provide a comfortable life to residents; construction of administration buildings and social facilities in regional centres; restarting the operation of defunct local governments and the reincorporation of local governments into the state on both a provincial and national level.
- Supply of essential services: installation of an inter-settlement high-voltage power system and construction of local substations within local government areas; provision of modern sewage systems, as well as high-quality water and gas pipelines; provision of heating systems, broadband and Internet connection and electricity to all homes, along with appropriate alternative sources of energy, such as open fireplaces, to allow continued normal functioning of homes and businesses in the event of the failure of essential services.
- Conservation of nature and ancient monuments: engineering to provide protection to revived and expanded settlements from dangerous geological processes, such as erosion from rivers, landslides, and development of ravines; legal and actual protection of historical monuments and sites reflecting the history of the Waynakh people; the restoration and maintenance of damaged or destroyed monuments, and the entry of these historical architectural and natural sites into a national database to provide legal protection and responsibility.
List of settlements
As of March 2023, more than 200 settlements were included in the master plan for the Highland Recovery; of these, 72 were in Galay-Chazh Province, 51 were in Galashke Province, 46 were in Chebarla Province, 39 were in Chanta Province, 22 were in Shuyta Province, and 18 were in Shara Province. Of these, over 170 are intended to gain a permanent population by the end of 2025, and of these, 122 are projected to have a population of more than 20 people. All of the settlements included in the master plan are intended to be incorporated into the official list of settlements in Waynakhia before the 2025 Census, if not already included in it.