Several farmers and businessmen applied to the regional Chamber of Entrepreneurs of the Aktyubinsk region with a complaint about the systematic pressure in the sphere of land relations on the part of the state. Today, the business ombudsman of Kazakhstan, Bolat Palymbetov, personally heard their problems. The Commissioner for the Protection of the Rights of Entrepreneurs of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Aktobe took part in the meeting of the Council for the Protection of the Rights of Entrepreneurs and Counteracting Corruption, and also held a personal reception of entrepreneurs. 

Most of the appeals related to the reluctance of officials to change the purpose of the given allotments at the request of tenants. In addition, several cases were recorded, where the land, issued earlier, was withdrawed by the state in a few years. Although the sites were used for their intended purpose. And at the same time, entrepreneurs were not compensated. At the moment, about a dozen of similar appeals to the regional Chamber of Entrepreneurs were registered.

"Vladimir Polyakov appealed to me; he has a peasant farm in the Khromtau district. He breeded cattle at about 100 heads and prepared about 400 hectares for arable land, invested KZT 50 million. He is a real investor. And now the officials checked him and found out that 2-3 years ago he was given with wrong land. They raise the issue of confiscation. But he got a loan and mortgaged his property. Are such actions acceptable?" - Bolat Palymbetov pointed out.

According to him, last year about 400 appeals for the Ombudsman came from Aktobe businessmen. 70% of the applications concerned land relations, while most of them could be resolved locally.

"Most of the issues relate to land. An entrepreneur wants to build an object of business, but he faces obstacles, for example bureaucracy and official red tape are created around the issue of land allotment or its re-registration. But it is important to understand that it is this entrepreneur who will adjust production tomorrow, open new workplaces and deduct revenues to the treasury. Now at the state level it is said that business development is the first and foremost issue. But it seems that statistics is bypassed. Those heads of districts, who behave unfriendly to entrepreneurs, remain in their places. However, it is necessary to pursue the investor or the entrepreneur with the request to invest, to create favorable conditions for them," - Bolat Palymbetov, the Commissioner for the Protection of the Rights of Entrepreneurs of Kazakhstan noted.

Now, at the legislative level, work is being done to secure responsibility of akimats for the publication of a mandatory list of persons who and for what purposes are given certain land plots. In addition, only through auctions, Palymbetov added. This will eliminate speculation and introduce transparency to the process.

"The whole process can be controlled by the business itself. Bring the composition of commissions to 50% of the business. And then it will not be necessary to bring local issues to the city and, even more so, to the republic level. Then the officials will not have to justify themselves," - Palymbetov noted

According to the legal department of the Regional Chamber, the most barrier to business development is the Khromtau district of the Aktyubinsk region, where a number of facts of entrepreneurs' rights violation by officials was registered, including improper refusals to change the designation of land plots, refusals to provide additional land, and illegal development of land sites that are in use by entrepreneurs, without the implementation of the procedure of state withdrawal.

For example, by the decision of the Akimat of the city of Khromtau, the individual entrepreneur "Edrisova A." was granted a land plot on the right of lease for the construction of a shop in the city of Khromtau.

During the licensing procedures it was found out that a medium-pressure gas pipeline passes under this section. Considering this fact, an agreement was reached with the subcontractor of the IE "Izmuratova Sh." on the joint removal of the gas pipeline outside the land plots. The corresponding technical condition for the removal of the gas pipeline was obtained from the Khromtau gas farm of the Aktyubinsk Manufacturing branch of JSC "KazTransGasAimak".

"With the intention to start work on the removal of the gas pipeline, the akim of the Khromtau district Amangali Berdalin personally stopped the earthworks and the special equipment was sent to the parking lot. At the same time, the akimat of the city of Khromtau started an unauthorized work on paving blocks lying on this land plot, and fencing was put. After the repeated appeal of IE "Edrisova A" in local gas supplier for obtaining technical conditions in 2018, the employees of the gas facilities are asked to bring permission for earthworks from the city akimat. Akimat on the results of consideration of the application twice refused to grant permission to conduct excavation work on the transfer of the gas pipe," - Deputy Director for Legal Affairs of the RCE Ruslan Kuyshinov said.

February 27, 2018 IE "Edrisova A." received a letter that the land in her posession on the right of temporary land use, was adopted under the program of improvement of the city of Khromtau. The members of the council have a question on the basis of which normative document the officials of the Khromtau city akimat decide to terminate the contract unilaterally in violation of the norms of land legislation. The fact of non-observance of the procedure of state withdrawal of the land plot for state needs is evident.

A number of similar cases were reported in Khromtau district.

"To date, we see an outrageous attitude of state officials towards the development of entrepreneurship in the Khromtau district. Complete disregard for business development, complete disregard for the development of the taxable base. We have a good platform for business support - Atameken. It can not be compared with anything. I, as a deputy of the maslikhat of the region, as a member of the council, consider that it's time for local authorities to take cardinal measures towards the Khromtau district. Because the issues are not solved for years. People can not get permits for construction for years", - the member of the Council Askar Sadykov expressed his opinion member.

At the end of the meeting, the members of the Council made a decision to the Chamber of Entrepreneurs to send an appeal to the Akim of Aktobe region for consideration and taking appropriate measures. They also recommended to the Chamber of Entrepreneurs to send a certificate and materials to the Committee for Land Resources Management of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan for the misconduct of officials of the Khromtau District akimat and for the restoration of violated entrepreneurial rights.

Over the past two years, 12 420 appeals for the protection of entrepreneurs' rights were received by the Atamaken; 717 appeals in the Aktyubinsk region, of which 327 with the positive result. The sum of protected property rights of entrepreneurs for 2016-2017 amounted at KZT 74.1 billion.

90% of these problems are purely regional - they are issues of land acquisition, construction, etc., and they should be decided locally. All systematic problems are consolidated into a single Registry. It includes 571 questions, of which 386 have already been resolved (66%). 48 problems are at the decision stage, while 137 are discussed with government agencies.

Together with the Ministry of National Economy, the permitting system has been optimized, 72% of licenses and permits have been reduced (from 1115 to 315). The effect of such optimization is KZT 1.5 bn (annual reduction of financial losses for business). This work is being carried out constantly.

Summing up the meeting of the Council, the Business Ombudsman Bolat Palymbetov noted that the Aktobe region is one of areas in the country where all spheres of business are represented.