Land consolidation pilot project in Armenia
Sahakyan, Hayk
In Armenia the land reforms are coming to the final phase. In all communities cadastral mapping activities are already fulfilled. The first title registration activities as well as the provision of certificates of ownership free of charge are coming to the end. For the creation of the mortgage system, the legal framework and all the necessary preconditions have been developed. In all 916 communities the state land has been transferred to the ownership of communities for future disposal. As a result of the aforementioned activities the system of registration of the rights to real property have been created, and the real property market, including for agricultural land, has been created and developed. The land has increased in value and become attractive not only for purchase and sale but also for collateral and leasing, the evidence of which is the increase of real property transactions by 2.7 times in 2005 as compared with 1999 (in 1999 some 45317 real property transactions were implemented while in 2005 the number was 122545). The number of transactions on agricultural land has increased by 6.9 times (in 1999 there were about 2344 transactions on land while in 2005 the number increased to 16213). The value of agricultural land has increased: during 9 months of 2006 the average price on agricultural land in Masis, Vagharshapat, Ashtarak and Abovyan regions fluctuated from $3000 to $6700 which is 88% higher than figures for 2003. In the land consolidation process the existence and availability of community land is very important. The alienation of community land creates good opportunities for enlarging the sizes of land parcels, and for exchanging with private land parcels in order to create a better layout of parcels.
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