The Senate passed the bill banning the privatization of parks, alleys, squares and green areas in Uzbekistan at a meeting on Thursday, and introducing the concept of permitted use of a land plot.

The ssnator Anvar Tuychiev said that the amendments provide clarification on the types of permitted use of land plots to increase the awareness of owners, users and tenants about the procedure for their use, as well as to comply with the requirements of urban planning regulations.

The Law is also aimed at enhancing the protection of squares, parks, alleys and recreation areas, as well as preventing the construction of buildings and structures in these areas.

Today, guarantees of rights to use land plots are regulated by urban planning legislation, where urban planning regulations are established for each territorial zone. Compliance with these standards is a prerequisite for the legal use of land and construction of real estate.

However, the current legislation fails to clearly define the "permitted use of a land plot", which leads to uncertainty and economic inexpediency of investments, the Senate member said.

According to him, there are situations when investors buy a land plot without having full information about the construction possibilities, and then find out that construction is impossible or seriously limited.

To prevent such situations, the Bill has proposed to introduce the concept of permitted use of land plots and its legal regulation into legislation.

The January 1, 2025 presidential decree has adopted types of permitted use of land plots for all categories of land, both existing and new.

Permitted use of land shall be determined by the Unified Classifier approved by the Cabinet of Ministers. It is divided into primary, conditionally permitted and auxiliary. The purpose of using capital facilities on the site must correspond to its permitted type.

This type shall be taken into account when transferring land, assessing it, selling it at auctions, issuing construction permits, calculating the load on infrastructure, and also when determining tax rates.

Obtaining conditionally permitted use is possible with compensation for the load on infrastructure, the procedure for which is established by the Cabinet of Ministers. Until January 1, 2027, in Tashkent this fee will be calculated based on the volume of construction.

Ban on privatization of parks

The senator pointed out that in recent years, construction in public parks, squares and recreation areas increased in Uzbekistan, which leads to the cutting down of old trees and the deterioration of the environmental situation.

In addition, some parks were illegally transferred to local authorities, which allowed their territory to be reduced by changing cadastral documents.

The main reason is the insufficient legal protection of such territories and the absence of strict regulations prohibiting construction on these lands, he believes.

The law has set a ban on the privatization or alienation of lands used to meet the cultural and domestic needs and recreation of the population, the reduction of their territories, the construction of buildings and structures on these territories.

In addition, criminal liability for violating these prohibitions shall be toughened. Senator Moira Toshova reported that criminal liability had been introduced for violation of the procedure for land allocation, which entailed the alienation of land that is state property and used to meet the cultural and domestic needs and recreation of the population or part of it, or the reduction of its territory (new paragraph "g" of Part 2 of Article 229-4 of the Criminal Code). A fine of 300 to 360 BCUs or correctional labor from 2 to 3 years or imprisonment from 5 to 7 years with the deprivation of a certain right shall be provided for this.

The reason for this is the increase in such offences, to counter which existing measures are insufficient. In particular, in 184 parks of Uzbekistan, green zones and forest areas have been reduced, 944 buildings and structures have been built (construction area of ​​431.6 thousand sq. m or 43.16 hectares). There are also 91 illegal buildings (7.6 thousand sq. m / 0.76 ha) in 18 parks, and 1,248 illegal rides have been installed in 98 parks. In addition, the practice of confiscating park lands for the reserve fund of government bodies, privatizing or alienating them is practiced.

Botanical gardens are planned to be included in the list of protected natural areas, prohibiting their privatization and construction on their territory.

She noted that the experience of the USA, Japan, Australia, Russia and Kazakhstan was studied when developing the law.