At the start of the year, the editors of FBRK reported on a difficult situation that arose at the consumer cooperative (CC) "Nurly", where more than 200 owners of land plots lost their allotments because the akimat of the Tselinograd district leased them to other individuals.
Recently, our editorial team contacted the district akimat in the hope of finding out the current state of affairs regarding the disputed plots. The department stated that the process of restoring the owners' rights began back in June.
As we reported previously, the roots of the problem go back to 2007, when JSC "Astana-Onim" acquired a plot in the Talapker rural district and subdivided it for dachas. After this, the land was sold to private individuals, who subsequently formed CC "Nurly".
In 2010, on the recommendation of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the dacha area was decided to be relocated due to the risk of flood inundation. For this purpose, JSC "Astana-Onim" purchased a safe plot along the Astana-Karaganda highway near the 41st crossing.
However, in 2022, the landowners discovered that the akimat of the Tselinograd district had provided their relocated plots on lease to completely different people.
The akimat explained to the owners that officially their plots remained in the same place – in the flood risk zone – and the allotments that were leased out were simply recorded as vacant in the documents.
In March, our editorial team presented its version of who and how could have transferred the privatised plots to the disposal of third parties. More details on this can be found via the link.
Recently, the akimat of the Tselinograd district told us that the department is taking all necessary steps to resolve the situation.
Specifically, in June, the land relations department began issuing notices to tenants about a ban on developing the plots.
As reported by the akimat, different approaches are applied depending on the specific plot.
For example, the owner of a plot can wait for the end of the lease term and restore the right to the land afterwards.
If the owner does not want to wait, they can contact the land relations department to negotiate with the tenant about terminating the contract or relocating them to another plot covering 73 hectares.
Also, at the owner's request, they may be offered a plot in another location, next to the CC "Nurly".
Based on the akimat's response, to date, 73 land lease agreements have been terminated, and the lease term has expired for 52 plots.
In total, 125 land plots, previously provided under short-term leases, have been freed up.
It turns out that the situation with the land plots in the CC "Nurly" is finally beginning to move forward.
And yet, as the saying goes, you can't take words out of the song. It took the akimat of the Tselinograd district several years to recognise the problem of the unjustified leasing of their plots to third parties and to begin addressing it.
Although the actions of the district akimat today appear to be a step in the right direction, the very existence of the problem points to systemic shortcomings in land resource management. Until these are resolved, one can only guess how many similar cases remain in the shadows.