Kazakhstan: entrepreneurs now can choose land for business themselves

Entrepreneurs will be able to choose a free land plot and take the initiative to hold a tender or trade, the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs (Atameken) reports.

“On our initiative, the Code of Administrative Offenses has approved a provision that imposes fines on the official of the  entrepreneur who did not put the land up for sale or who, after refusing to give it up, violated the 90-day period. For the first violation, a fine of 30 MCI (103.5 thousand tenge) is provided. If it is repeated for the second time in a year, 60 MCI (207 thousand tenge) will be invested. Now the new rule has entered into force,” said Deputy Director of the Department of Construction and Land Relations, Yernur Abzhan.

According to him, the land inspectors are checking to see if this requirement is being fulfilled.

“Once the responsibility is established, the non-applied rule will be implemented in 2018. Entrepreneurs will be able to initiate trade or competition by choosing an empty plot from the map of the public cadastre,” Abzhan noted.

In accordance with the law, land plots for conducting business and agriculture must be transferred through bidding (auctions) and tenders (on agricultural land).

In order to ensure the right to choose land that meets the needs of entrepreneurs, amendments were made to the Land Code. These amendments oblige akimats to auction land within 90 days from the date of refusal on applications for land due to the need for the transfer of land at auctions and tenders.

But in practice, this rule did not work because there was no responsibility for its failure. According to the analysis carried out by the National Chamber, only in the North Kazakhstan and East Kazakhstan regions over the past year, 58 applications of entrepreneurs were refused by akimats to provide land plots. At the same time, none of them traded within the period of 90 days established by the Land Code.

“This situation increased the risks of corruption because entrepreneurs had to apply to the employees of the akimat for the auction or tender of a specific site,” the Chamber of Entrepreneurs explained.