Russian ministers opposed the bill's regulation concerning Moscow and St. Petersburg as corruption-breeding.
Photo: Dmitry Kostyukov
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Ministers Plough a Field for Corruption
Russia’s government has endorsed a bill on the sale of land of privatized plants. The bill contains a regulation on paying up to 80 percent of a land plot’s value if it is situated in Russia’s two biggest cities, and the plant is pulled down.
The Russian White House approved yesterday of a bill that sets a buy-out price for lands of privatized plants at up to 20 percent of its land-survey-certified cost for Moscow and St. Petersburg and 2.5 percent for other regions.
There was no discussion about the rates at the government. However, the issue of setting a limit to changing a plant on the land plot sparked debate. If the owner wants to have a new plant instead of the old one or build a business center or residential house on the plot, they will have to pay up to 80 percent of its cost. This article of the bill was lobbied by Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, and it will be in force only in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref vehemently opposed this regulation as corruption-breeding. “We will surely see criminal cases here,” he said. Finance Minister Alexey Kudrin noted that this Moscow pay runs counter market principles and property rights.
The regulation, however, entered the final draft of the bill because it had been long overdue. The government endorsed the bill and submitted it to the State Duma.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Sep. 22, 2006
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