15.10.2020

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has chaired a videoconferencing session on the effective organization of new system for keeping state cadastres.

It is no secret that over the past decades, systemic problems have accumulated in Uzbekistan in the field of land allocation and public cadastre. Due to lack of discipline and control, thousands of hectares of land were misappropriated. Land administration causes dissatisfaction among both the population and entrepreneurs.

In this respect, the President signed a decree on September 7 this year outlining measures to radically improve the system for keeping record of land and state cadastres. The document defines a set of tasks for reforming the sector based on best practices, introducing a new management system, ensuring the completeness and digitalization of land accounting.

On the basis of the State Committee for Land Resources, Geodesy, Cartography and State Cadastre of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Agency for Cadastre was established under the State Tax Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The task of keeping record of land and state cadastres was assigned to this agency, while ensuring and monitoring the effective use of land was transferred to the Ministry of Agriculture.

It is no coincidence that the Cadastre Agency was formed under the Tax Committee, since the accuracy of determining the tax base depends on the completeness of accounting for land resources.

For example, a recent study in Bostanlyk, Furkat, Kasan districts and the city of Urgench showed that a total of more than 2,000 real estate objects were not registered in the cadastral and tax bases.

A similar situation is observed in the registration of land plots. As a result of stocktaking, 150 thousand hectares of additional agricultural lands were identified in 66 districts, of which 28 thousand hectares of irrigated sown lands were not taken into account. In general, in 113 districts, scores of land resources remain unused due to the fact that they are not assigned to any category of lands.

In order to organize work within the new system, it was noted at the meeting, it is crucial first of all to ensure the accuracy and completeness of accounting.

“Legislation in the field of cadastral and land registration is outdated. The regulations are described in a turbid language. And this is indeed a path towards corruption. We will now change the entire system. The main goal is accurate keeping of land records, ensuring justice in this process,” the President said.

Leaders of the Republic of Karakalpakstan and regions were instructed to prepare land cadastres for all agricultural regions and post them in the National Geo-information System. From now on, decisions of hokims on the allocation of land will be considered invalid until they are included in that system.

The task was set to unite the bases of the Cadastre Agency and tax authorities in order to carry out accounting of used lands and facilities with the determination of the tax base.

As the head of our state highlighted, the stocktaking of forest funds of our country have not been carried out since 1987, despite the significant expansion of forests over the past period. The State Forestry Committee was thus urged to conduct comprehensive stocktaking of forests.

One of the problems of the system is that the cadastral value of 340 thousand facilities has yet to be determined. Of these, 200 thousand objects are not taxed. In addition, over 1 million homes have no cadastral documentation.

In this respect, the need to form full-fledged real estate cadastres was emphasized, which is important for the tax base. Growth in revenues to local budgets would open up more opportunities for addressing social issues.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev instructed to revise the validity of payments collected at all stages from construction to the preparation of a cadastral passport for the construction, as well as to reduce their size and simplify the procedure.

The system of calculating the land tax also needs a radical revision. The tax rate for lands located near regional centers and with good water supply, and for those with low fertility, is practically the same.

Responsible executives were given directive to introduce a tax calculation system based on the real value of land, using increasing and decreasing coefficients. International experts will be invited for this, and the procedure for determining the market value of facilities will be tested in four regions.

The meeting participants also discussed pressing issues associated with the registration of rights to a land plot and unauthorized appropriation of land.

The President noted that this year alone, about 50 thousand cases of illegal takeover of 11.2 thousand hectares of land were revealed, on 3.2 thousand hectares of which housing was illegally built. Almost all of these areas are irrigated fertile agricultural land.

Every district will be provided with drones to oversee agricultural land and monitor crops. In addition, an information system will be created that will allow, based on satellite observation, to quickly detect and eliminate cases of illegal construction at an early stage. The system will first be tested in some areas.

The head of our state also recommended that local kengashes clarify and approve the administrative boundaries of all regions, districts and cities by the end of this year. Names and addresses are to be assigned to nameless streets and unnumbered houses, of which there are more than 2 thousand and over 1 million, respectively.

21 types of state cadastres are registered in our country. Data on 9 cadastres are not complete even by 50 percent. As a result, in order to put the land up for auction, representatives of various government departments go to the premises and issue conclusions on each individual case, which takes about 2 months.

In particular, only intercity roads are registered in the cadastre, while that is not the case with internal roads. Shavkat Mirziyoyev instructed to fully document the stocktaking and include it in the National Geo-information System.

It was noted that for the effective implementation of reforms in the field, it is important to staff all divisions of the Cadastre Agency with qualified personnel, to train them on the characteristics of the new system. The material and technical support and working conditions in the local units are to be improved.

“In general, hokims and industry leaders should realize that the correct accounting of land, respect for it is one of the main factors of economic growth in regions,” the President underscored. “This sought, we will solve three important issues: effective use of land, ensuring the rights and inviolability of property of citizens and corporate entities, as well as expanding the tax base, which will create additional reserves for budget revenues.”

Officials in charge of the sector reported on the measures they contemplate for the effective organization of land and cadastral registration.