Gov’t allows citizens to register land as private property

Article 68 of the updated Constitution adds a new norm that “Land can be private property under the conditions and procedures provided for by the law, which ensure its rational use and its protection as national wealth”. Muhsinjon Kholmukhamedov, deputy director of the Center for Economic Research and Reforms, explained the essence of this article.

This norm serves the development of property relations as one of the real revolutionary changes in the updated Constitution.

For many years, the lack of full implementation of private ownership of land in Uzbekistan has led to the insufficient formation of the real owners’ layer, the fact that land is not included in the market as a real commodity, and the confidence of foreign investors in the national economy has decreased.

That is, in other words, the land is actually expensive in the market, but officially it has no value. An entrepreneur neither pledges his land nor reflects it as a commodity in his business. Such a system led to the growth of illegal land sales.

How does the recognition of land as private property directly benefit the owner?

The owner of a privatized land plot acquires the rights to sell, donate, exchange, mortgage, and bequeath it. 

The state can repurchase privately owned land for public needs only with the consent of the owner, on the basis of a contract, at the market price. That is, the land does not fall into demolition, the land can be alienated only if the state buys the land at an agreed price.

Private property in relation to land also serves to increase the level of creditworthiness of entrepreneurs and allows to increase income through rational management of property.

Recognition of land as private property serves to expand the class of owners, develop the land market, and increase economic efficiency in the use of land plots.

This norm is very important in order to introduce market mechanisms in the field of land use, to ensure the stability of property and legal relations in this field, and to guarantee the property rights of land owners.

Inclusion of this norm in the Constitution makes it possible to strengthen the property rights of citizens and business entities to the land at the constitutional level. This, in turn, serves to reliably protect and guarantee the rights of owners, and also strengthens their obligation to treat the land with care.

At the same time, in the cases stipulated by the law, the mechanisms of transferring the land to private property will be put into practice.