Mykolaiv needs more than 70 hectares of land for all applications for land ownership

Mykolaiv, archive photo NikVesti

The Department of Architecture and Urban Planning of Mykolaiv has received 713 applications from citizens who want to receive 10 acres of land. However, it is unclear where the community will find enough free land to satisfy the applications.

This was discussed during a meeting of the commission on human rights, children, family, legality, and transparency on Thursday, 19 February, according to NikVesti.

The head of the Department of Administrative Services, Vladyslav Belan, said that the Department of Architecture is currently considering 730 applications for land. However, due to the moratorium in force because of the martial law, these applications are not being considered.

«The first block concerns applications on which the state has imposed a moratorium. We have 730 applications with documents on such issues. Our Department of Administrative Services accepts such applications with the attached documents and forwards them to the Department of Architecture. As I understand it, they are being compiled due to the moratorium. And they send the applicants letters stating that the moratorium is in place until the end of martial law, after which such documents will be considered. The Department of Architecture also has other applications that are not subject to the moratorium. There are 709 such applications. Previously, there were significantly more. I see a positive trend, although it is still small,» said Vladyslav Belan.

The chair of the commission, Olena Kiseliova, drew attention to 713 applications that fall under the nationwide ban on the free transfer of land to private ownership during martial law. According to her, these are applications from citizens for 10 acres. However, if this ban is lifted, the city will not be able to find so many vacant plots of land, she said.

«In essence, each application is a request for a 10-acre plot of land. The moratorium, which currently prevents the council from considering these issues, is one option. My question is different: where do we have so much land? Because 713,000 square metres is 73.1 hectares of land. Let's model a situation where the moratorium is lifted. What happens next? Where do we get the land?» notes Olena Kiseliova.

She appealed to the Department of Architecture with a request to present its vision for resolving this issue to the members of the commission and explain whether the community will be able to ensure that these appeals are fulfilled.

We would like to remind you that the mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Sienkevych, stated that the reorganised land resources management, which was merged with the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, is working much more efficiently than it has in the last eight years.

On 25 April 2024, deputies of the Mykolaiv City Council reorganised the land resources management department, merging it with the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning. At the same time, the draft decision «On optimising the structure of the executive bodies of the Mykolaiv City Council» provides for the creation of a commission that will deal with the reorganisation of land resources management.

It is also worth noting that, according to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, the average cost of 1 hectare of agricultural land in the Mykolaiv region is 34,033 hryvnias, which is one of the lowest prices in Ukraine.