Tag Archives: city planning

Russian administration plans to nullify land category divisions

“Administration of Russia plans to introduce nullification of land category divisions” (“Pravitel’stvo Rossii planiruet provesti otmenu deleniya zemel’ na kategorii”), World Heritage Sites, 2 March 2010. 27 July 2010 http://rpmira.org/news/468.

Explication of new legislative reforms, which will most notably end land classifications (i.e. agricultural; urban; industrial; special reservations; forest reserves; water reserves; land reservoir).  The goal of the new law is to decrease the pressure of bureaucratic corruption in land transactions and rezoning processes.  The 52 items amending current legislation should go into action in 2011.  In place of the complicated system of land categories, a Ministry of Economic Development representative says, the structure of allocated use for land plots will be strengthened through renewed territorial planning and city zoning plans.  The law will also impose penal tax rates for enterprises sitting on unused state lands, which administrators hope will push these enterprises to either use or dispose of the lands, removing the burden of “blocked lands,” which otherwise would be well utilized.

Another aim of the legislation is to increase transparency of land transactions and accessibility: information about available plots will be posted on the land Cadastre’s new online database, and all land will be required to be sold at auction.  The distribution of permissions to build on land should be simplified, and will be overseen by the administration.

Braverman’s Land Patrol

Stupin, Ilya. “Braverman’s Land Patrol” (“Zemel’nii patrul’ Bravermana”), Ekspert 41, 26 October 2009, 28-34. 28 June 2010 http://dlib.eastview.com.ezproxy.middlebury.edu/browse/doc/20828585.

An examination of the federal government’s practice of distributing seized land in auctions to developers via the Residential Construction Development assistance fund (RZhS Fund).  The new government organization, an initiative of Medvedev’s aimed at creating a renewed market for construction, has begun seizing land from agricultural institutes on grounds of underuse.  Developers in Tyumen’, Kirov, Cheboksarakh, and Kursk have already begun leasing these lands, promised the opportunity to privatize the land after 9-11 years of use.  The article criticizes the RZhS Fund institution as short-sighted, as it is so far unclear as to who will consist the buyers and renters in this new, real-estate-flooded residential building market.  Although, both RZhS Fund head Aleksandr Braverman and construction business heads credit the Fund’s creation with the streamlining of bureaucratic processes and incentivizing of developers’ building-up and eventually privatizing the plots.  Controls on where developers can set rent rates, as well as insufficient budgetary funds allocated for the RZhS count among the Fund’s problems.

Quoting from an interview with Kirov Oblast governor, Nikita Belikh, the second half of the article examines what may be the RZhS’s greatest weakness: a lack of a central region development plan and poor cooperation with the regions in which these infrastructure-less lands are being auctioned.

Moscow prepares to seize

Sichkar’, Olga and Khalil’ Aminov. “Moscow prepares to seize” (“Moskva gotovit izyatie”), Kommersant 197 (4252), 22 October 2009. 22 July 2010 http://www.kommersant.ru/doc-y.aspx?DocsID=1259907.

An evaluation of new legislature proposed by the Moscow Land Resources Department (Moskomzem).  If passed, the law would give Moskomzem the explicit right to seize land that had been left unused for two years (or used outside its allotted use).  Their arguments are that it would stimulate both the fulfillment of the city land plan, as well as the privatization of enterprise lands’ use-rights.  However, one lawyer argues that the law will only be able to be applied to lands under agricultural and construction uses, saying that city administration would be hard pressed to find a legitimate reason to be seizing industrial enterprise land based on non-use of the land.

Moscow fiddles with its land

Stupin, Ilya. “Moscow fiddles with its land” (“Moskva khimichit s zemlëy”), Ekspert 25, 29 June 2009, 47. 28 June 2010 http://dlib.eastview.com.ezproxy.middlebury.edu/browse/doc/20287329.

Announcement of a new state land asset company, “Moszemsintez,” and reporting on initial transactions.  Moscow vice-mayor Aleksandr Ryabinin will head the company, formed in order to “manage building projects, mixing the functions of a land bank and of developers, including attracting loans for land assets and real-estate to carry out the company’s goals.”  A few dozen acres in southwest Moscow may be transferred to “Moszemsintez” from Moscow-administration-run OAOStroitel’no-sberegatel’naya kassa.”  The lands of jewelry factory “Krasnaya Presnya,” bought out by the city, will now be used as a residential area for resettled residents of Kamushka near Moscow City.  Developers are wary of the new organization, as its role in seizures has yet to be defined.