Tag Archives: nation

Changing land into electronic form

Gorelik, Olga. “Changing land into electronic form” (“Zemlyu perevodyat v elektronnii vid”), Ekspert Online, 21 May 2010. 1 July 2010 http://www.expert.ru/articles/2010/05/21/zemlya/.

Information about and maps of land properties and regarding their ownership rights can now be obtained online at the Federal State Registration Services for Registrations, Cadastre, and Cartography (Rosreyester) website at (link shortened). Operating in 12 pilot regions since its start, and 22 since June, the register has received over 20,000 queries, the Ministry of Economic Development (Minekonomrazvitie) created the site at a cost of 20 million rubles with the goal of shortening and simplifying the procedures for obtaining such information.

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.

Amendments and additions to laws in December 2009

“Amendments and additions to laws in December 2009,” Metrkv.ru: Vsya Nedvizhimost’ Rossii. December 2009. 28 June 2010 http://metrkv.ru/articles/index.xml?&articles_id=10336016.

Cataloguing of amendments made by the Duma in December 2009. On December 27, 2009, the deadline for the restructuring of lands held under permanent (perpetual) use was extended to January 1, 2012, and for lands on which electric, telecommunications, pipe, etc. lines are located, the deadline is now January 1, 2015.  However, the changes also include another extension: the date after which fines may be imposed upon firms that have not restructured their land holdings is now Jaunary 1, 2013, meaning enterprises that do not meet the 2012 restructuring deadline may only be fined at least a year later.  De facto, the original Edinaya Rossiya proposal (see above) was upheld.

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.

News of the Week

“News of the Week,” Ekspert Volga 38 (153), 5 October 2009.  30 June 2010 http://www.expert.ru/printissues/volga/2009/38/news_week/.

The Republic of Tatarstan’s Gossovet deputies proposed an amendment to the RF Land Code that would allow seizures of land, the owners of which have not paid their land taxes or put the land to use in the last three years. The proceeds from these lands’ auctions (minus transaction costs) would be used as compensation for the previous proprietors, from whom the land was seized. “The measures put forth by the deputies, indubitably, could enliven the land market and shrink the number of ineffectively used lands.”

The Infrastructure Phantom

Stupin, Ilya. “Infrastrukturnii’ fantom,” Ekspert 34, 07 September 2009, 88-92. 25 June 2010 http://dlib.eastview.com.ezproxy.middlebury.edu/browse/doc/20586521.

Review of the problems facing infrastructure and highway building in Russia.   Article highlights probable missteps of the government in focusing its attention and resources on unneeded projects.  The recently created firm Rusavtodor overshadows existing motorway infrastructure construction enterprises; its legal status as an enterprise is ambiguous.  Its Land Code provides terms of lease on federal and non-real land properties, which exempt the company from receiving certain permissions and allow for the conclusion of lease agreements without usual public auctions. Questions are raised as to why this state-favored enterprise has been given “less complicated” projects and land on which to work, given the fact that its capital base is capable of tackling larger problems (92).

At the end of May, Duma to consider amendments to Land Code

“Dragonov: At the end of May, Duma will consider amendments to Land Code,” Edinaya Rossiya, 19 May 2009. 28 June 2010 http://www.edinros.ru/text.shtml?7/9830,.

Report on the Edinaya Rossiya party website on proposed amendments to the 2001 Land Code, regarding provisions that require firms to restructure their land holdings as leases or private property by January 1, 2010.  The party cites support for the changes from the industry, property, and land-issues committees.  The proposed extension on the deadline would be for 3 years until Jan. 1, 2013 (for lands under electric, telecommunication, pipe, motorway, and train lines, 6 years until Jan. 1, 2016).  Gosduma representatives calculate this will allow proprietors to “composedly (spokoyno)” make the required changes.

“In the opinion of [Valeriy] Dragonov,” vice-chair of the Duma Committee on Industry, “the deadline extension for the restructuring of these lands is one of the important steps to the comprehensive support of homeland industry.”  The party seems to view their postponement of short-term costs of land privatization (or restructuring as a lease) as a supporting Russian industry.

Perpetual land – for three years

Vasil’eva, Yuliya. “Perpetual land – for three years: Business asks to postpone the buy-out deadline for land plots to Jan. 1, 2013” (“Zemlya bessrochno – na tri goda”), Rossiiskaya Biznes-gazeta 692, 3 March 2009. 1 July 2010 http://www.rg.ru/2009/03/03/zemlya-vikup.html.

Summary of the history and current state of the Land Code amendments; stresses business’ desire to privatize/restructure their land use, but inability to do so due to bureaucratic barriers and high buy-out prices.  Power-mongering and super-control of the restructuring procedures on the part of local powers also complicate the conditions in which businesses were being required to buy-out their land.   The decrease in businesses’ liquid funds due to the crisis—funds that would be needed for land transactions—also increases the hardship.

In addition to these issues, RSPP department head Irina Kotelevskaya notes the lack of a “good register of land territories” as another complicating problem.  In the federal Duma’s Committee on Property, “it has been noted that in crisis-time conditions, with the increase in the price of credit and the insufficiencies of working capital at many industrial enterprises, the direction of significant monetary resources towards the organization of the buy-out of land plots might just lead to a worsening of their financial situation all the way to near-bankruptcy.