"As you know, a special commission was set up some time ago to use water resources more efficiently. The commission is working hard and some shortcomings have already been revealed, including illegal tie-ins, the lack of water records and even the lack of records of water entering and leaving the Mingachevir reservoir, our biggest reservoir. So there was such an unpleasant picture," said President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev at meeting in a video format on the results of 2020, Eurasia Diary reports.

"Some of the shortcomings were quickly eliminated. At the same time, there were illegal tie-ins, perhaps hundreds of illegal tie-ins. Therefore, some areas were given too much water, while others were not watered at all. Therefore, farmers and villagers rightly complained about the inadequate supply of water. Local administrative resources were used, local authorities provided water to farmers close to them, whereas other farmers were faced with problems, especially given the drought we experienced last year and 2019. In fact, the drought may continue this year too. Of course, we have huge water sources in our liberated lands, and the hated enemy deprived us of these sources. The source of the Tartar River, our largest river in these areas, is Kalbajar District. But we were deprived of the waters of the Tartar River because the Sarsang and Sugovushan reservoirs were in the hands of the Armenians. They cut off the water and we had to dig hundreds of artesian wells in these areas. This is also fraught with heavy financial costs – both on drilling and operation, because energy is consumed. After we liberated the Sugovushan settlement, the water started flowing, but there is a problem of canals now. Because these canals remained unused for many years.

Our other rivers originate there and pass through that area. The Hakari, the Bazarchay, the Okhchuchay, the Khachinchay rivers. Many of them flow into the Araz River, and the construction of reservoirs along the rivers should be considered. This must be included in this year's Public Investment Program and the program for work on liberated lands. I think we need to start designing and building them.I want to say again that the lands there are already very fertile. Once the water is supplied there, productivity will increase and we will be largely self-sufficient with food," noted the President.