Atameken removes barriers to land acquisition
The introduction of standard contracts for the sale and lease of the land saved businesses from losses and disputes with government agencies.
Barriers to the allocation of land for business remain among the most frequent in the practice of Kazakhstani entrepreneurs. One of the pressing issues was the conclusion of agreements of lease and sale of the land plot between akimats and businesses.
"It has become common practice for each akimat to include its terms and conditions in the contracts, even those that are not provided for by law. For example, the akimats could change the value of the land plot after the conclusion of the deal, or to establish a ban on the alienation of leased land, although the law allows in some cases to use the land, having previously repurchased the right from the state. There were also facts when the agreements stated that the late payment of land tax was the reason for termination of the agreement and withdrawal of the land plot, although such responsibility is prescribed by the Tax Law, the Land Code stipulates other grounds for seizure," the Director of the Department of Construction of the Atameken NCE RK Nazira Usenova said.
In connection with the frequent complaints of entrepreneurs the Atameken NCE RK initiated amendments to the draft law "On Amendments and Additions to Certain Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the development of the business environment and trade regulation. The Atameken NCE RK together with the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan defended the interests of business and new rule of the law in the Mazhilis of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
As a result, in 2019, the amendments were adopted, according to which the relevant authority has the competence to develop and approve a standard lease agreement, as well as the sale and purchase of land. Thus, entrepreneurs have been relieved of the systemic problem by setting uniform requirements for all akimats.
Within the framework of the same law, the Atameken protected the rights of entrepreneurs from the unjustified seizure of land for construction. As it is known, if an entrepreneur does not use the land for its intended purpose for three years, it is forcibly seized by the state. At the same time, cases of "force majeure" (which allowed the owners to save land plots) only applied to agricultural land plots.
For example, a businessman could lose his land due to the absence of an approved detailed design project, without which it is impossible to obtain an architectural and planning task for the construction of the facility. Thanks to Atameken, cases of "force majeure" now extend to construction sites as well.
"In practice, there are a lot of disputes in case of withdrawal of unused lands in court. The Law does not define the concept of "development", does not establish specific requirements for the development of land intended for construction. This leads to different law enforcement practices. For example, in one region the presence of the Architectural-planning task and technical conditions is a reason for the court not to seize the land. In another region, a land plot may be seized if the expert opinion is positive, only because the work has not begun on the plot," Nazira Usenova said.
"Besides, we have worked on this issue with the Supreme Court. With our participation, amendments are currently being made to the relevant regulatory resolution of the Supreme Court," she said.
The measures taken are designed to protect entrepreneurs from the unjustified seizure of land, reduce costs and eliminate ambiguous law enforcement practices.
Another issue that the Atameken NCE RK has resolved for entrepreneurs is the approval of the procedure for determining the project as an investment project to provide land plots from the state ownership.
"The law allows akimats to provide land without an auction for the implementation of investment projects, but due to the lack of requirements for such projects, the akimats themselves found it difficult to determine whether or not a project is an investment one. As a result, the norm did not work in practice. Now a procedure will be approved, it is understandable for akimats. The procedure will help businessmen-investors to get land for their project without an auction," Nazira Usenova said.
In total, it has been included over 600 problematic issues of business in the Register of the Atameken NCE RK, 428 of them - were completely solved, 123 issues are at a stage of the decision.
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