Municipal Land Sold for a Song

The State Committee of Land and Cartography announced the holding of the tenth land auction. Sale and lease are subject to 235 municipal holdings. These trades, like previous ones, too, can become formal in the absence of competition, experts say.

Land sales in Azerbaijan carried out from April 2010, following the introduction of the legislation norms mandatory tender sale of municipal and public lands. Under these rules, the market value of sites offered for sale shall be determined on the basis of trading, becoming the base for the next auction. Since participating in the bargaining only candidate, there is no difference between the start and the auction value of the land.

In many cases, the sale price of land is several times lower than in the market, depending on the specific localities. For example, 100 square meters of land in the village Masazir of the Absheron district is on sale on average for 350 manat, while the real price of land for individual housing construction is not less than two thousand manat. Approximately twice as much costs the land offered by the municipality of Novkhani in the Absheron region for business purposes. However, here, too, the price is several times lower than in the market.

The Chairman of the NGO Assistance to Economic Initiatives Azer Mehdiyev told Turan the research has shown that municipalities sell land on the actual market prices. "The difference between the market value of the auction and the value agreed by the parties goes into the pockets of municipal officials," he said.

To combat such phenomena the NGO proposes to improve the mechanism of formation of the starting price of municipal land. In particular, it is proposed to engage an independent appraiser.

The land auction designated for October 19 will sell land under construction of individual houses (118), business objects (98) and agricultural uses (19).

Sale and lease of land is the main source of the budgets of municipalities in Azerbaijan. The country has exposed many cases of corruption on sale of municipal land. - 08B-