03.06.2021

On June 3, the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev held a meeting on improving the land relations.

The land is a national treasure. In recent years, a special attention has been paid to the rational use and protection of this resource, strengthening the rule of law in the field of land relations. In particular, thanks to the introduction of information technologies, the openness and transparency of the land allocation procedure is increased, and bureaucratic obstacles are eliminated.

However, there are still cases of theft, unauthorized seizure and illegal sale of land resources. The procedure for the allocation of non-agricultural and agricultural land is not transparent and is not the same for everyone.

The President scrutinized the shortcomings in this direction and emphasized the need to accelerate the work to transform the land into a market asset, determine its economic value and involve it in financial turnover, strengthen state and public control over the allocation and use of land.

«Today we have a very difficult issue on our agenda, since the measures taken to ensure the rule of law in this area do not give a positive result. The land is the wealth that feeds the people. We must completely change our attitude towards it», - the President noted.

The meeting considered proposals developed on the basis of a study of the current situation and advanced foreign expertise in the field of land legislation.

In particular, it is proposed to introduce a procedure for providing land to the private sector on the basis of ownership and lease rights, and to state organizations on the basis of the right of permanent use.

The practice of allocating land on the basis of life-long inheritable tenure, permanent possession, temporary use, which does not meet the requirements of a market economy, will be discontinued, and the types of land rights will be reduced from 6 to 3.

A procedure for the sale of non-agricultural land to the private sector will be introduced only through an auction sale. A non-agricultural land can be sold into private ownership only to citizens and legal entities of Uzbekistan, and land that cannot be privatized on the basis of a lease right.

The practice of allocation, as well as direct and free provision of land to the non-state sector by the decision of the khokim (governor) will be canceled.

The procedure for the provision of agricultural land will be introduced only on a lease basis.

Such lands will be provided to citizens and organizations (with the exception of foreign ones) on the basis of an open competition. Acceptance of applications for an open bid, collection and evaluation of information about the applicant will be carried out in electronic form.

The powers of khokims of regions and districts to change the category of agricultural land are to be transferred to the Cabinet of Ministers and the President.

The meeting discussed the issues of improving the mechanisms of control over land use.

In particular, the right of khokims of districts to make decisions on the allocation and return of land will be completely abolished.

All decisions of the khokims of the region regarding the land relations will undergo legal examination in the territorial departments of justice.

Along with this, it is proposed to strengthen responsibility for land offenses.

The President has once again focused the attention on the need to ensure the rule of law in the sphere and gave relevant instructions to the responsible persons.